Brussels, 01/09/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 1 September, the overwhelming majority of MEPs on the European Parliament's agriculture committee urged Mariann Fischer Boel to agree to take emergency measures to help milk and milk product producers overcome the current crisis. The commissioner for agriculture, however, refused to yield to these appeals for lowering production quotas or change course on the end of quotas programmed for 2015. According to the European Commission, budgetary constraints will prevent any new release of funding for milk producers. The president of the agriculture committee at the EP, Paolo De Castro (S&D, Italy) affirmed that they had to “take more concerted action”.
Mariann Fischer Boel declared that the milk producers' situation is serious and “we need to be compassionate and take action” but, “we must choose our policy tools wisely”. She disagreed with those who said that the system of milk quotas guaranteed the sector's future. The commissioner said that the quotas were due to be abolished in 2015 and that “a heavy-handed 'central planning' of the milk quota system would raise production costs and make it harder for young farmers to enter the sector”.
The commissioner explained to MEPs who wanted a support fund for milk producers that there was no money for this or any margin for it in the draft 2010 budget. She asserted that the effects of financial discipline would be felt for years to come. Funding has already been planned in the Economic Recovery Package as a way of specifically responding to new agricultural challenges (including milk sector restructuring).
In reply to questions from parliamentarians, the commissioner for agriculture firstly asserted that there had not been any majority at the Council of Ministers (meeting on 7 September to debate this crisis) to reduce the quotas (reminder: quotas are due to increase by 1% a year until they are scrapped in 2015) and then, in the event of lowered quotas, farmers would “demand compensation” (although there is no money for this).
Albert Dess (EPP, Germany) said that he was “very concerned” that even some of the best farms were “unable to cover the costs of production”. He made a strident appeal for measures to facilitate an end to the bottle-necks in the market and give farmers hope again.
Luis Manuel Capoulas Santos (S&D, Portugal) called for “pragmatic and concrete” responses to the crisis, such as market stabilisation measures and providing producers with reasonable prices. The former minister for agriculture said that the situation required exceptional measures and the Commission's measures proposed so far were “insufficient”. He called for intervention from the public authorities on the market and declared that the commissioner's speech had not left him feeling any more relieved.
James Nicholson (ECR, United Kingdom) said that the question of maintaining or scrapping quotas was not the key question. He called for immediate action, particularly in respect of controlling the influence exerted by the major distribution powers, which force farmers to sell their products at the lowest prices.
Martin Häusling (Greens/EFA, Germany) explained that the quantity produced continued to pose a problem. He said that they could not afford to wait, and needed emergency measures. He criticised the huge amount of money spent on export subsidies, which had damaging repercussions in less developed countries. He did not think intervention measures provided the solution but rather put off the problems until later. Marit Paulsen (ALDE, Sweden) criticised export aid and called for emergency measures.
Alfred Rubiks (GUE/NGL, Latvia) asserted that “the measures currently being proposed to stabilise the market are both unreliable and insufficient”. Stéphane Le Foll (S&D, France) said they needed to end the automatic increase in milk quotas (+1% a year). He also said that aid should be prioritised towards support for farmers' funding and not restructuring. He posed the question of what would they put in place of milk quotas if they were scrapped in 2015.
José Bové (Greens/EFA, France) suggested short term (5% cut in quotas) and medium term responses (a halt on out-of-soil production that uses imported soya, and reconverting farms to produce grass). (L.C./transl.rh)