The EU must come up with more decisive actions to deliver relief fast to farmers in the worst-hit sectors, such as dairy and livestock, MEPs told EU Agriculture Commissioner, Phil Hogan, in Tuesday’s debate on the ongoing crisis.
They also called for structural reforms to better balance the supply chain, ensure fairer income for farmers and assist them to become more resilient to market shocks.
Many MEPs criticised the Commission for doing too little, too late to solve ”the worst agriculture crisis in recent decades”.
Some insisted that more market interventions were needed, including at least a temporary regulation of supply, while others, claiming an attempt to liberalise the EU’s agriculture had failed, advocated further market regulation and incentives for farmers to voluntarily cut production.
Several MEPs also warned national attempts to solve the crisis had proven ineffective and warned against “renationalising” EU farm policy.
Some also voiced concerns about the international trade agreements that the EU is now negotiating and insisted that EU farm policy must not be used as a bargaining chip at expense of EU farmers.
This week the European Commission confirmed that new EU rules providing the opportunity for farmers to jointly plan milk production have now been finalised and published in the Official Journal today.
As announced by Commissioner Hogan in March in response to the difficult milk market situation, the Commission is open to allowing agreements between recognised Producer Organisations, their associations and recognised Interbranch Organisations to plan milk production for a temporary period of 6 months.