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French prime minister Manuel Valls said on Monday his government had sent a memo to the members of the European Council of Agriculture ministers ahead of its next meeting on 15 February.
The document outlines proposals to address the current income crisis in the pig and dairy sectors at EU level, following a fresh round of protests by French farmers.
“The Commission must activate the powers at its disposal in case of a crisis. Until now, it has done too little too late,” Valls said, adding that the proposals drawn up by agriculture minister Stéphane Le Foll include “market regulation measures”.
A statement from the French department of agriculture called on the European Commission to discuss “new market regulation tools, especially in the dairy and pigmeat sectors, to limit production when the market is saturated”.
”Compensation measure to reduce livestock numbers”
In addition to the continuation of private storage aid schemes and a temporary rise in the intervention price for butter and milk powder, France is suggesting a “compensation measure to reduce livestock numbers”. This is understood to target the number of sows in the pig sector.
Paris also wants a “high-level dairy group” to “review intervention mechanisms, incentivise reduced production when prices are low and support modernisation in the sector”.
Prime minister Valls is due to discuss the proposals with European Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan in the coming days. Valls said he would also meet his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday to discuss the lifting of the Russian embargo on European pigmeat.
Sharp increase in Irish skimmed milk powder offered into intervention
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