During last night's debate in the European Parliament reviewing the implementation of the EU's Dairy Package, GUE/NGL MEPs said the package failed to reflect the reality of dairy farmers' livelihoods and the costs of dairy production.

Irish MEP Matt Carthy said: “I would have preferred if the Parliament's report was more adventurous on issues that address volatility and included more on an intervention price, one which reflects the cost of production. Unfortunately now, by the time we reach the current prices, their livelihoods are in jeopardy. At the moment, without adequate safety nets, our dairy farmers face a bleak future.”

Galician MEP Lidia Senra added:  “The solutions proposed in this report are not real. We need to go back to a public dairy policy based on minimum prices to cover work and production. This is the only way out of this crisis.”

For Portuguese MEP Miguel Viegas: “The dairy package has failed to improve the situation of dairy farmers. Even with contracts being organised through producer organisations, farmers cannot negotiate a decent price for their produce. This package doesn't respond to price instability and volatility, which is entirely unpredictable.”

Luke 'Ming' Flanagan (Independent, Ireland) added: “I will not be voting in favour of this report. We now have a situation here where it costs 26 cents to produce milk for which the farmer only gets 20 in return. Giving farmers loans will only lead to more problems. They will not be able to pay back these loans. Using more pillar 2 funds will also have knock-on effects on other sectors.”

Independent German MEP Stefan Eck also spoke against the report noting the plight of the animals and adding: “With the expiry of the quota system there will be a significant decline in small holdings throughout the EU. They have no change against these enormous farms with lots of animals, and the crisis will continue.”

GUE/NGL Press Contact:

Gay Kavanagh +32 473 84 23 20