Europe unveils exceptional measures to help farming crisis

An expanded package of exceptional measures to support Europe's farmers was unveiled on Monday, including allowing milk producers to limit production to force prices up.

After strenuous requests from France and other countries, European agriculture commissioner Phil Hogan said he would temporarily allow milk producers to adopt their own measures to limit production.

Hogan noted that "a number of member states have requested access to the possibility to enable voluntary agreements of producer organisations, interbranch organisations and cooperatives in relation to production and supply management".

This is the so-called Article 222 from the Common Market Organisation (CMO), which are a component of the Common Market Organisation (CMO) that have never been used before and are meant to be applied only in case of severe imbalance in the market.

The European Commission concluded that "the strict conditions for the application of this article to the dairy sector are fulfilled in the current circumstances" but stressed it was an exceptional measure.

Other proposed measures include doubling the ‘public intervention’ ceilings for butter and skimmed milk powder (SMP) and extending exceptional measures for fruit and vegetables, which is set to expire on June 30, for another twelve months.

The EC also said it would consider a temporary acceptance of state aid that would allow member states to provide a maximum of €15,000 per farmer per year and no national ceiling would apply. "This can be done immediately and much more quickly than an increase in de minimis ceilings," it said,

The support package, which also has measures designed to help the pigmeat and fruit and vegetable sectors, is being used in tandem with the €500m support package agreed last September.

"In the interest of EU farmers, I am prepared to use all instruments that the legislators have put at our disposal, both as a short term and long term measure. We must use the appropriate instruments and actions to enable farmers to be resilient in the face of volatility whilst providing immediate assistance to them," said Hogan.