This was confirmed at a meeting of COPA, the umbrella body of EU farm lobby organisations in Brussels last week.

The voluntary reduction initiative was first considered in March by COPA. The issue, then and now, is that the emergency scheme was introduced by the European Commission without any funding.

William Irvine, dairy chair of the UFU, said: “At our meeting last week, it was clear that support for this initiative has weakened even further, with only Finland, France and Spain expressing any interest.” He added that it was also made clear again by the Commission last week that there was no funding available for the programme.

Big doubts

The UFU opposed the supply programme from the outset, on the grounds that a voluntary scheme without any funding could never deliver a meaningful outcome.

Irvine said there was now widespread acceptance that the evidence failed to support the case. “It was clear from the meeting that almost all member states have big doubts about the effectiveness of such a programme.”

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