Allister holds Commission to account over export refunds
13 March 2009
At the European Parliament in Strasbourg this week, Jim Allister MEP questioned the Commission on its piecemeal approach towards dairy export refunds:
Jim Allister (NI). – Commissioner, what urgency and commitment does the Commission have towards ensuring that the dairy market bottoms out? Is there not a danger that, by piecemeal incremental measures, it will take even more time to turn the market? And yet time is the one thing we do not have. Is it not time to be bold with the export refunds? Because, Commissioner, our industry is dying on its feet.
“Now that the intervention ceiling on butter has been reached within 2 days of opening, despite warnings that this would happen, the Commission needs to rethink its strategy towards coping with the situation the European dairy industry finds itself in. It is quite clear, from the huge demand for intervention, and in respect of the rock bottom prices for dairy commodities, that current Commission actions are insufficient in taking hold of the situation. That is why I have urged the Commission to act to introduce an effective safety net for the situation the dairy industry finds itself in.”
ENDS
