Many newspapers comment upon the end of the European milk quotas, officially set on 1 April. The market will now be monitored by the Milk Market Observatory (MMO), aiming to provide the EU dairy sector with more transparency. Le Monde explains that the quotas system, adopted in 1984 to solve a problem of chronic overproduction, proved to have perverse side-effects; not respecting market mechanisms, milk prices continued to rise and fines on overproduction were revealed to be not dissuasive enough.
According to Der Standard, the abolishment of quotas and the complete liberalisation of milk production in the EU will result in cut-throat competition. La Vanguardia adds that Spanish farming organisations have warned that the liberalisation promised by Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan “will only succeed in implementing the law of the jungle because the industry will decide when it is brought about, at what price and under what quality standards.” Portuguese dairy farmers fear that the end of milk quotas in Europe will give north European countries the possibility of flooding south European markets with cheaper milk, Jornal de Negócios reports.
Les Echos stresses that northern European countries, which have been pushing for the abolition of quotas for a long time, are indeed better equipped for cheap mass production than France, Italy and Spain, which have industries more centered on high-quality milk. Rai tre reports that France and Italy also fear that milk prices may fall further, as the sector is in deep crisis, and fines are still to be paid to the EU for failing to abide by this year’s quotas. In an opinion piece in Les Echos, David Barroux considers that the end of milk quotas will mark the end of a “predictable and somewhat comfortable system” and the beginning of a time of “volatility, globalisation, industrialisation, economies of scale and risk-taking”.
Luxemburger Wort focuses on small and medium-sized enterprises, which are likely to have difficulties on the world market. Der Standard says the end of quotas will also boost factory farming at the expense of ecological sustainability and animal protection. Il Secolo XIX warns that Italian milk threatens to be no longer competitive, reporting that in protest against lost market position, Italian farmers will demonstrate today in Rome, while the European Milk Board will demonstrate in Brussels.
Handelsblatt however argues that as the EU milk quota expires, farmers in Europe gain entrepreneurial freedom; the newspaper reports that German Minister for Agriculture Christian Schmidt welcomes the end of the quotas as it offers more chances in the globalised market. Several newspapers including Les Echos and Poslovni Dnevnik report that Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan stated his confidence in the European milk sector’s chances in a global competitive market, although he also admitted that farmers might be faced with such challenges as price volatility and industry concentration. Yet he also stressed that the worldwide demand, especially from China and Africa, is constantly growing and that there are multiple development opportunities, adding that he believes the sector is ready to meet tomorrow’s challenges and that it has the potential of being an economic driver for the EU. ©europeanunion2015
