29 October 2010

2 minute read

Copa-Cogeca Secretary-General Pekka Pesonen said “We welcome the fact that the Commission has acted swiftly on the recommendations made by the High Level Expert Group on long-term measures for the EU dairy sector. The draft proposal responds to our calls to improve farmers’ positioning in the food chain, to enable them to get a fair revenue from the market and to let them get a better price for their produce”.

Henri Brichart, Chairman of Copa-Cogeca’s Milk Working Party, insisted “This can be achieved through legally secure collective bargaining rules operated by recognised producer organisations. Dairy cooperatives must be recognised as producer organisations as they are predominant in Europe. The draft proposals must acknowledge cooperatives role and not prevent them from growing in size and scale. We also welcome the Commission’s approach to contracts, which will be voluntary, between farmers and processors. This will give producers more stability and help strengthen their positioning in the food chain. The contracts would be enshrined in the framework of collective bargaining rules, including price”.

He continued “We also welcome the Commission’s move to look at the role of inter-branch organisations which already exist in the EU fruit and vegetable sector. Finally, we believe it is vital that the Commission strives in its proposal to enhance market transparency, especially on volumes of milk produced across the EU”.

But Mr Pesonen stressed that any new policies must not increase the administrative burden on farmers and operators of the sector. “The proposals are also incomplete as they do not include EU measures to manage the market. These measures must be maintained in order to protect farmers against extreme market volatility and to guarantee sustainable, competitive dairy production in Europe”, he added.

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