Brussels, 02/10/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 5 October, the European agriculture ministers of the member states of the European Union will meet in Brussels for a working lunch to discuss the crisis faced by milk and dairy product producers. Although the European Commission is not expecting any decision to be made at this meeting, which is not a formal Agriculture Council, some of the agriculture ministers, such as France's Bruno Le Maire, hope that the EU will clearly state the requirement for "a new European regulation of the dairy market to replace quotas", he said on Thursday 1 October, further to a round table with representatives of the French dairy sector. The delivery strike, which has been suspended since 24 September, will resume "if no reasonable decision is taken by the ministers" on 5 October, warned Romuald Schaber, the president of the European Milk Board (EMB).
This highly anticipated meeting of the European agriculture ministers has no specific agenda, meaning that no decisions are anticipated, we have been informed by sources close to the European Commission and the Swedish Presidency of the Council of Ministers. The Presidency is not planning to hold an official press conference. It is anticipating "a good but heated discussion" on the situation of the dairy sector. The Presidency hopes that over the lunch, the Commission will give an update not only on the market situation, but also on the timetable for the two proposals announced on 17 September to be presented: one of them on the changes to be made to the rules on purchasing quota (to facilitate the restructuring of the sector) and the other on the inclusion of the dairy sector in provisions which allow the Commission to take emergency measures. These proposals are to be examined by the Agriculture Council of 19 and 20 October in Luxembourg. For the remainder, the Commission will make its contribution in the form of a road map putting forward various legislative measures for the medium and longer terms.
Support not universal for French inclinations
Bruno Le Maire, the French minister for agriculture, plans to plead for the EU to invent "a new European regulation in the field of dairy". He believes that "things are moving in this direction". He pointed out that there is a qualified majority within the Council in support of the Franco-German document (EUROPE 9984) and stated that the EP supports "our initiative". Several delegations plan to support France, but by no means all of them, particularly over the issue of quotas. The countries which are hostile to any new regulations to replace quotas when they are phased out in 2015 include the United Kingdom, Denmark, the Netherlands and even a number of Mediterranean countries, such as Greece, Cyprus and Malta. Even Spain is said to be somewhat apprehensive about this idea of a new regulation, particularly with their Presidency drawing closer (1 January 2010).
Mr Le Maire's idea is to create a voluntary system which will make it possible to define "the desirable volume at European level, because it would be meaningless at national level". This system would not be as binding as quotas, but would give an indication of the volumes to be produced, and a price level which could be used as a reference to producers and industry. Mr Le Maire also intends to defend the following before his EU counterparts: - the eventual creation of a market to make price-setting in the dairy sector more transparent; - reinforcing the intervention tools.
Invitation to demonstrate in Brussels on Monday 5 October
The European Coordination Via Campesina, in association with European Milk Board and its member MIG, is calling on producers to take part in a demonstration in Brussels on 5 October, under the windows of the building where the European agriculture ministers are to meet. In the short term, Via Campesina hopes that the ministers will adopt the following decisions on 5 October: - reduce European production by the necessary percentage to bring it into line with current demand (in order to bolster prices as quickly as possible); - apply this reduction in proportion to the volumes produced, with small farms exempted; - bring in obligatory individual penalties in all member states in the event that individual quotas are exceeded; - get rid of export refunds and use the money saved to create differentiated support for dairy farm income. (L.C./transl.fl)