The Commission's €500 million aid package revealed last week might be not enough to get farmers struggling with falling prices back on their feet, MEPs told Commissioner Phil Hogan.
Crisis management instruments should be improved, and the position of farmers in the food supply chain strengthened, said MEPs. Some also ask the Commission to immediately increase intervention prices to tackle the current crisis.
Commenting on the content of the aid package outlined by Commissioner Hogan and the outcome of the informal Agriculture Council on Monday, many MEPs called for new market measures to tackle price volatility and further support for farmers to find new foreign outlets.
Several MEPs blamed market-oriented policies for the current crisis and called for tools to manage supply, particularly when it comes to the milk sector, while others insisted on structural reforms that would simplify the Common Agricultural Policy and boost the competitiveness of EU farmers on the world market.
Some also called for €900 million raised from former “super levy” fines paid by farmers who exceeded their quotas under the quota scheme abolished in April 2015.
The Commission will propose that the most significant part of the comprehensive package will be provided to all Member States in envelopes to support the dairy sector.
In determining the distribution of this aid, we will ensure that it is fairly distributed, targeted and effective, having particular regard to those Member States and those farmers which have been most affected by the market developments. The Commission's intention is to provide maximum discretion to Member States to reflect their specific situations.
“We have pushed hard to get to this point, but we are going to have to push a lot harder to get the Commission to deliver something more meaningful than the package that emerged in Brussels on Monday,” said Ulster Farmers Union president, Ian Marshall.
Speaking from Brussels, he added that it was encouraging the Commission had come up with a package of measures – but said there were few new ideas and that the amount of 'new money' proposed for national envelopes for the dairy sector was small, given the scale of the crisis and the need to spread funding across 28 member states although the details of this had to be further clarified.
The package will bring some additional aid for dairy and pig farmers, but the UFU says other sectors also facing tough times have been largely ignored. While the Commission confirmed, as expected, that member states will be able to make early CAP payments this will likely be improbable in Northern Ireland.
“What emerged was in line with forecasts before the meeting – and it is unfortunate that thousands of protesting farmers did not persuade the Commission it needed to be more generous. What we have is a deep crisis, largely caused by events over which farmers have no control. What the Commission produced was an unimaginative response, when what was needed was radical thinking,” said Mr Marshall.
He added that the coming months, and the financial pressures they would bring, will confirm that the Commission approach is one of dealing with what it sees as minor difficulties, when what was needed were solutions for a once in generation crisis for farming families.
Speaking today at the extraordinary Council of agriculture Ministers, Vice-President Katainen said: "This package will allow for €500 million of EU funds to be used for the benefit of farmers immediately. This is a robust and decisive response. This response demonstrates that the Commission takes its responsibility towards farmers very seriously and is prepared to back it up with the appropriate funds. This is particularly important, given other competing budgetary demands."
The announcement comes on the same day as the NFU and a delegation of its farming members joined a mass demonstration of 5,000 farmers in Brussels.
NFU President Meurig Raymond said: “We appreciate the €500m for dairy farmers across Europe, particularly as this comes at a time when EU budgets are under ?tremendous pressure. It is currently unclear how much of this would come to Britain.
“However, one of the main priorities is the short term cash flow difficulties facing farmers across all sectors. The Commission has announced that member states can pay up to 70% of their direct payment from October 16, provided that the necessary checks have been carried out.
“We welcome this opportunity but clearly the main stumbling block is around the flexibility required for checks and inspections so that member states do not run the risk of a disallowance fine. This is not clear from the Commission’s announcement today and is one of the main barriers to issuing early payments.
“It is disappointing that the Commission won’t review the intervention price in the dairy sector because we feel it has a role to play. An increase in the price could help put a price floor in the market and boost confidence in the dairy sector. We will continue to press the Commission on this point.
“We believe there needs to be a fundamental culture change across the whole supply chain and we very much welcome the Commission’s steps to address this so far. However, we need to go much further if we are to offer British farmers the same protection they receive at home when they trade abroad.
“It should be stressed that this afternoon’s Agriculture Council is still underway. We will further scrutinise the announcement and look forward to learning more about reactions from other member states.”
