Hogan (l): "I have engaged a lot of political capital now on behalf of the French and the Belgians to try and come up with something that they wanted for a long time" (Photo: The Council of the European Union)

EU farm chief questions own milk scheme

Green Economy

by Peter Teffer, Brussels,

The European Commission has said it will let Europe's dairy sector manage its output to rebalance an oversupplied market, less than a year after the EU's milk quotas ended.

The new scheme had strong French backing, but shortly after farm ministers met in Brussels on Monday (14 March) EU agriculture commissioner Phil Hogan questioned the effectiveness of the move.

Ministers had met to discuss the dire situation in the pig meat and dairy sectors in Europe and agreed to a range of me...