Dispute over dairy support

Most member states favour help for farmers, but there is some objection.

Agriculture ministers are next week set to clash over how much market discipline Europe’s dairy farmers should face.

The majority of EU governments support plans to shelter farmers from volatile milk markets, but a small band of market liberals, notably Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK, fear such moves could undermine competition rules.

The disagreement will be aired at a meeting of agriculture ministers on Monday (27 September). Observers believe the two sides are so far apart that ministers may be in the relatively unusual position of being unable to agree formal conclusions – the typical goal of such meetings.

The dispute centres on how the EU should respond to volatility in the dairy market, following last year’s sharp fall in milk prices, which led to angry demonstrations by farmers in several national capitals.

The European Commission pumped €1 billion in special aid into the market to help dairy farmers through tough times, and asked a group of experts to examine what more could be done to protect farmers from long-term instability.

Among the group’s recommendations were calls to boost the collective bargaining power of farmers, by allowing them to group together to negotiate contracts with processors. The group also called for more contracts (and therefore prices) to be agreed in advance, and suggested that this could become compulsory.

The Belgian government, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council of Ministers, was happy to broadly accept these ideas in the ministerial conclusions. A majority of member states are also in favour, but Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK are opposed and have complained that their views are not well represented in the draft conclusions. The three countries are unhappy with the idea of compulsory contracts and think the plans could be bad for competition.

If ministers fail to agree, one likely outcome is that Council conclusions could be downgraded to presidency conclusions. These carry less political weight, but would not stop the Commission from drafting future laws in this area.

Mackerel row

Click Here: kanken kids cheap

Ministers will also discuss how the EU should respond to a dispute with Iceland over the valuable mackerel catch in the North Sea.

Fishermen from Iceland and the Faroe Islands dramatically increased their mackerel catch this summer, causing an outcry from EU fishermen.

The EU has already reached an agreement with the Faroe Islands and talks have taken place with Iceland this week. On Monday, Maria Damanaki, the European commissioner for fisheries, will report to ministers and seek ideas on how to move forward.

Damanaki has warned that Iceland’s mackerel fishing could stand in the way of the country’s EU membership aspirations.