Allister speaks in dairy debate
05 September 2007
During a debate in Strasbourg on EU Commission proposals in the dairy sector, Jim Allister MEP strongly supported opposition from the Parliament's Agriculture Committee to some of the steps which the Commission wishes to take in amending the Regulation on the common organisation of the market in milk and milk products.
The proposal to amend Regulation (EC) No 1255/1999 on the common organisation of the market in milk and milk products is made up of a number of specific proposals: decreasing the intervention price for skimmed milk powder (SMP); a school milk scheme; abolition of the intervention trigger for butter; abolition of obligatory use of import licences; harmonisation of the quality criteria for butter in a single EU-wide quality class, instead of the current 27 ‘national quality classes’; abolition of aid for private storage of cream and skimmed milk powder and of disposal aid for military forces.
In the course of his remarks Mr Allister said:-
"There are three points in the report on common organisation of the market in milk which I strongly support:-
1. Private storage of cream and skimmed milk powder should not be abolished, but retained as a safety net in the volatile world of milk production.
2. The school milk scheme is of critical importance, not least in the fight against obesity, and should be widened to include new and healthy dairy products.
3. A milk fund restructuring programme should be set up for the purpose of retaining for the milk sector savings resulting from the implementation of the mini milk package, with such a fund used for marketing support and nutrition awareness."
Commenting further Mr Allister said, "Though at present the outlook in milk is optimistic, we need to be sure that all steps taken do not remove current safety nets, nor fail to expand the vision for milk, nor should savings made be lost to the industry and its promotion."
