Tax, finance measures key to easing farm income woes

Farmers and politicians in many of the EU member states believe the current dairy price downturn is being caused by over production in a few EU member states rather than global factors, and would like to see those countries reduce their supplies.

In their submissions to the EU Council of Ministers meeting, some were looking for mandatory, EU-wide measures, as they felt that the countries which should reduce output are those that have expanded (including Ireland).

The French government had put forward a detailed submission which proposed either mandatory or voluntary approaches based on Article 222.