Commissioner: Remove milk quotas

MILK quotas are a straitjacket, European Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel told a conference in Rome.

“They don’t fit in with the kind of market-orientated farming we need. We need to get rid of them.

“On the other hand, we can’t just cut the strait-jacket off and expect everything to turn out well. We have to loosen it first for a while, to prepare the dairy sector for the coming change,” she said.

Ms Fischer Boel said this is why she has already proposed to expand milk quotas by 2% as from quota year 2008.

“Overseas markets want more dairy products, and if we don’t get our foot in the door quickly, Oceania will move in for us and the door could close,” she said.

At the same time, she said, she wants to help any economically fragile areas, which depend on milk production for survival.

Regarding rural development, she said this policy can’t be run on encouraging words. It needs strong financial backing.

Under the European Union’s financial plan for 2007 to 2013, rural development policy will get €88 billion.

“This is a good start, but it’s less than the commission asked for, and quite simply, it’s less than we need to run our policy at full speed,” she said.