site.btaBrussels Does Not See Any Crisis in EU Milk Industry

Brussels Does Not See Any Crisis in EU Milk Industry

Brussels, January 27 (BTA correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) -
Despite complaints by Bulgaria and Romania, the European
Commission does not see any crisis in the EU milk industry that
might have been caused by Russia's restrictions on farm product
imports from the EU, Bulgarian Agriculture and Food Minister
Dessislava Taneva said in Brussels on January 26.

Taneva was talking to Bulgarian journalists in the Belgian
capital after attending an EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council,
which discussed the EU farming sector in light of EU-Russia
tensions. She said that proposals had been put forward about
setting quantitative criteria to determine what situation can be
described as a crisis, but the EU member states failed to reach
agreement on the proposals.

EU-wide, milk and dairy product prices do not yet indicate a
state of emergency, Taneva went on to say. Bulgaria and Romania
had asked the European Commission to enforce five additional
measures to offset the effect of the Russian embargo, because
the measures already in place, such as compensation to powdered
milk producers, did not support the two countries' milk farmers
(Bulgaria does not produce powdered milk).

But still, Bulgaria is supported by six other EU member states
in its claim about a milk industry crisis, whereas in December
it was alone in its stance, Taneva said, adding that the
analysis will continue in March. EU ministers were unanimous
about the need for solidarity amid the Russian embargo, she
noted.

The price of milk in Bulgaria has been falling continuously
since March 2014, and by November it had dropped by 14 per cent,
Taneva said, expressing a hope for compromise on the question
of EU compensation to farmers. The European Commission believes
that the right solution is to seek expansion to markets outside
the EU. LI/VE