Milk: European Commission refuses to freeze or lower quotas
The European Commission will refuse on Wednesday a freeze or a reduction in milk production quotas, which are expected to increase next year, as demanded by Berlin and Paris and certain producers faced with the fall in prices, according to a draft document.
The intense discussions already conducted by European countries on the subject "exclude ideas such as a 5 pc drop in quotas or a freeze on quota increases", underlines the European executive in this text. "A change in the quota system would not respect" the decisions already taken to adapt the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), declares this document from the services of European Commissioner for Agriculture Mariann Fischer Boel. Mrs Fischer Boel thus addresses an end of disallowance to the most resolute milk producers, united within the federation European Milk Board (EMB). They had been asking for weeks for a 5 pc reduction in production quotas in the EU in order to raise prices. The Commission proposes in its document only limited technical support measures, in addition to what has already been decided, such as a relaxation of the rules for the granting of public aid. (HIE)
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