More than 3000 milk producers brought 1000 tractors into the centre of Brussels today (18 June), gathering outside the EU council building where European heads of state are meeting, in order to raise awareness of the plight of European dairy farmers.
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“Farmers have travelled from across Europe – many came from Germany, Belgium, France, Luxemburg and the Netherlands… It is vital that the crisis in the milk sector starts to be addressed at a political level,” a spokesperson for the European Milk Board, the farmers’ union organising the protests, said.
The milk producers will keep their tractors in the European capital until tomorrow, when a further demonstration will be staged.
With an oversupply of raw milk, prices on the global market for dairy commodities have fallen to a point where European farmers claim that they are at risk of loosing their livelihoods if the EU fails to act.
The protestors are calling for an immediate 5% suspension on the EU milk quota for fiscal 2009/10.
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By GlobalDataIn this way, the EMB argued, the EU can prevent milk surpluses and prop up prices.
“Many European dairy farmers will go out of business if European leaders fail to act,” the EMB warned.
