The Minister for Agriculture, Eskil Erlandsson, will chair the meeting. Top of the agenda is the situation on the European milk market in the light of the Commission’s report on and analysis of the dairy market. The Agriculture Council meeting has been brought forward from 29 September specifically in response to the Commission’s report.

Report from the Commission on the situation on the dairy market 2009

Since the price of milk peaked on the world markets last year, the situation of the milk industry has been a recurring topic of discussion at the Agriculture and Fisheries Council.

Back in July, the Commission presented a report on the dairy markets including a market analysis and an account of the different support measures provided for milk production.

In this report the Commission put forward other measures that they considered could stabilise the milk market. Examples of this included state aid, measures within the rural development programme, measures to reduce the use of anti-competitive practices in the food supply sector, and market transparency. The Commission did not want any decisions following the report to impact the decision to phase out milk quotas by 2015, which had previously been decided in the CAP "health check" in 2008.

However, a number of Member States want the Commission to taker greater action to stabilise the milk market. They would like to see measures including higher export refunds, greater intervention quantities (the quantities of e.g. butter and skimmed milk powder that the Member States’ intervention bodies are allowed to buy to stabilise prices), different market support measures and the postponement of the abolition of the milk quotas.

The Commission’s report will form the basis for the agriculture ministers’ discussion on the situation on the EU’s internal milk market.

The Commission will also discuss the Agro-Food Industry and the transport of live animals.

A report from the High Level Group on the Competitiveness of the Agro-Food Industry will be presented to the Council. The High Level Group was created by the Commission in 2008 to draw up measures to strengthen the sustainable development and competitiveness of the European food industry. The report contains some 30 recommendations.

The Commission is working on a proposal for an amendment to the regulation on the protection of animals during transport. Under current legislation, lorries that transport animals on journeys of more than 8 hours must be fitted with a navigation system. The Commission’s proposal will probably include an extended area of application for these navigation systems. They will be able to send information on the vehicle to a database that can be used to improve checks on animal transportation.

 

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