Junior Agriculture Minister and Clare T.D., Mr. Tony Killeen has backed calls by fifteen EU Member States for major improvements in support for hard-pressed dairy farmers. The call was made at a meeting of the EU council of Agriculture Ministers in Brussels this week. The 15 Ministers agreed that additional rapid action at EU level was required to deal with the critical situation on European milk markets driven by the global economic crisis.
According to Minister of State Killeen: “The group called for a comprehensive EU approach combining immediate short-term measures along with a medium term strategy to deal with volatility in the milk sector. I am especially heartened by the strong support from so many Member States for effective action on these issues. It is critically important for these countries to continue to work closely together to ensure that this leads to real and immediate action leading to the recovery in the EU milk market and realistic prices for farmers.”
He continued: “Among the measures being called for is a temporary increase in the intervention price, and careful management of the disposal of intervention stocks; increased export refunds for butter, milk powder and cheese, while avoiding any distortions in developing country markets; the reactivation of aid for use of milk powder in animal feed; and consideration of measures to modernise and adapt the dairy sector.”
Minister of State Killeen welcomed the sense of urgency among Ministers to redress the increasing divergence between prices paid to farmers and those charged to consumers. “Ministers overwhelmingly supported recommendations from a high-level group to examine the balance in relationships between retailers, processors and producers and to improve the transparency of price formation at every stage in the food chain”, concluded Minister Killeen.
