AppealtotheEUMinistersforAgricultureandtheEUCommission

Makesureyouorganisethevoluntaryrestraintonsupplyproperly!It’stheonly

waytostabilisethemarketThe decisions taken by the Council ofMinisters for Agriculture on 18 July 2016 certainlyindicateare-thinkonthepartoftheEuropeanCommissionandmanymemberstates.Forthefirsttimethecentrallyco-ordinatedvoluntaryrestraintonsupplyopentoeveryEUproducerhitsoverproductionatsource:ontheproductionlevel.ItwashightimetheEUdecidedonaneffectiveinstrument.Measureslikethefirstpackageof500millioneuros and the constant increase in interventionandprivate storagehaddonenothingtohelpthemarket;farm-gatepricesformilkbecameincreasinglyremovedfromacost-covering level.That iswhytensofthousandsofproducershavealreadygivenupmilkproduction,andmanyproductionregionsareonthevergeofdisappearingfromthemap.Butthevoluntaryrestraintonsupplycanonlysucceedifitisproperlyapplied.Thisentails:

- Usingmorethantheplanned150millionandpossiblysomeofthe350millioneuros.TheEMBcallsoneverygovernmenttomakeextrafundsavailablefortherestraintonsupply.

- Capping every country’s production volumeduring the reductionperiod. Thatmeansnocountryisallowedtoincreasevolumesinthisperiod.ThisenablesthetotalvolumetobelimitedwithouttheEUincurringanyfinancialcosts,andtherequisiteactivereductionthevoluntaryrestraintonsupplywouldproducetobelimitedtoasmallerdimension.

Themeasuresadoptedon18Julymustresultinacost-coveringpricelevelinthemarketbytheendoftheyear.Ifnot,compulsorycutsmustbemadeineverycountry.Anyvoluntaryreductionsmadebeforethenshouldbecreditedtotheobligatoryreductionvolumes.Inthiswaythemandatoryvolumethathastobecutpercountrycanbereduced.

The EMB calls on the EUMinisters for Agriculture and the EUCommission to organise orsupplementthevoluntaryrestraintonsupplyinsuchawaythatthemarketcanactuallybeadequately stabilised. The aim is to reduce production. This can only be achievedwith aproperlyappliedvoluntaryrestraintonsupply.Therearealsootheradditional,notalternative,instrumentsthatcouldhelpsomecountries.Thetimeforexperimentsandtheerosionofaddedvalueinagriculturebyerroneousexportstrategiesisover;becausefarms,agricultureandruralregionscannottakeanymore.