The Warsaw Agreement states that despite the actions previously undertaken by the EU, the current crisis in the dairy sector exacerbates. The French Minister for Agriculture Stéphane Le Foll and German Minister for Agriculture Christian Schmidt, together with the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development from Poland, Krzysztof Jurgiel, will propose these new measures to address the dairy sector crisis at the next Farm Council meeting on 27 and 28 June.

The ministers are urging the European Commission to put in place EU funds to support voluntary measures at an individual or collective level that contribute to stabilise/reduce the level of production in the EU to better adapt production to market demand.

“Any support measure in the dairy sector should contribute to stabilise or reduce the quantity of production. Given the urgency, the provisions must allow for a quick and simple implementation of the measures and flexibility for member states,” the Warsaw Agreement states.

France, Germany and Poland are also calling for the adjustment of private storage to the present market situation, including a temporary increase in the level of support to skimmed milk powder (SMP) and butter.

The dairy market can be strengthened, they say, by the renewed increase of the purchase limit for SMP for intervention at a fixed price of up to at least 350,000 tonnes.

“Considering the scale of the present crisis, too swift transfer to the tender mode in public intervention should be avoided, so as not to cause reduction in market prices,” they said.

High Level Group on Milk

The ministers also want to supplement the already existing expert groups at EU level with the appointment of the High Level Group on Milk.

“If these measures do not contribute to market stability, other measures will be proposed in the effort to achiive market balance at EU level,” they said.

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