Milk price crisis: MEPs demand further action to rescue dairy farmers
The EU must quickly take further measures to stabilize milk prices and bring relief to struggling dairy farmers, urged Members of the European Parliament today in the plenary debate with Commissioner Phil Hogan and Dutch deputy farm minister Hans Hoogeveen. These measures should include an EU-wide lid on milk production to boost prices, a more efficient intervention system, to enable the EU to react more swiftly, and balancing the supply chain to enable farmers to earn fair returns, they said.
Read:
Replay videos of statements (first round of speakers)
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Phil HOGAN, EU Commissioner for agriculture
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Hans HOOGEVEEN, Dutch vice-minister for agriculture, representing the Presidency of the Council of EU (ministers)
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Albert DESS (EPP, DE)
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Paolo DE CASTRO (S&D, IT)
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James NICHOLSON (ECR, UK)
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Jan HUITEMA (ALDE, NL)
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Maria Lidia SENRA RODRÍGUEZ (GUE/NGL, ES)
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Maria HEUBUCH (Greens/EFA, DE)
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John Stuart AGNEW (EFDD, UK)
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Philippe LOISEAU (ENF, FR)
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Diane DODDS (NI, UK)
You can re-watch the plenary debate via EP Live, and EbS+.
Milk price crisis hearing: EU must manage supply to rescue dairy farmers, say MEPs
Agriculture Committee MEPs debated measures to address the on-going dairy crisis on Wednesday evening with representatives of the Council, the Commission and the dairy sector. A majority of speakers opposed a return of milk quotas, but many MEPs insisted supply must be better managed to avoid increases in milk production that put even more downward pressure on prices. They also stressed an EU-wide solution is needed to avoid distortions on the singlel market.
The recording of the hearing is available here.
Background
In 12 April plenary debate MEPs called for rapid relief for dairy farmers and structural reforms to make them more resilient to market shocks and to ensure they are paid fairly.
Parliament also called in July 2015 for mechanisms to protect dairy farmers from abuses in the retail market and insisted that the role of the Milk Market Observatory must be enhanced to enable it to issue crisis warnings earlier and recommend action.
