Junior Agriculture Minister Tony Killeen, T.D., has welcomed a commitment by the European Commission to take further emergency action in the event of market volatility in the milk sector.The Fianna Fail TD for Clare was speaking after an emergency meeting of EU Agriculture Ministers in Brussels yesterday, which follows weeks of protest over the decline in milk prices. He said: “This meeting provided an opportunity to Member States and the Commission to have a full and open discussion on the very difficult market situation being faced by dairy producers. Among the matters discussed by Ministers were proposals put forward by France and solutions suggested earlier by the European Commission, the EU's executive arm in charge of farm policy.”
Minister of State Killeen added: “I recognise that the Commission has been quick to deploy aid to private storage, intervention and export refunds to support the sector to date. However, the fact is that these measures, while stabilising the market, have proved insufficient to lift the market. It is reassuring to see that significant progress is now being made on advancing proposals from a large number of Member States. I am especially delighted to learn that EU Agriculture Commissioner Ms Fischer Boel has confirmed that a proposed high-level group of experts will begin meeting next week to look at medium and long-term solutions including contractual issues between producers and dairies and a possible dairy futures market”, he stated.
Meanwhile, Minister of State Killeen welcomed the Commission declaration that stocks of butter and skimmed milk powder would not be released from intervention until the market situation had been stabilised. The Agriculture Council is scheduled to return to the situation of the milk market at its next meeting in Luxembourg on 19th October.
