European Union giving EUR 500 million of aid to milk producers

The European Union has announced an additional EUR 500 million of aid to farmers in the EU in order to reverse the fall of prices in the weakened dairy industry. This has increased the total amount of help to the European agricultural sector to EUR 1 billion.

The European Commission has presented a new package of measures worth EUR 500 million from European funds, with the goal of helping farmers in the light of current market difficulties, especially in the dairy market, the Commission states in its announcement.

– This package provides a further robust response, and means that the Commission has mobilized more than EUR 1 billion in new money to support hard-pressed farmers – Commissioner Phil Hogan stated.

Of the amount approved, EUR 150 million is meant as a compensation for independent and other producers for each liter of milk they don't produce, whereas the remaining EUR 350 million will be distributed to the EU members, which will then decide on additional measures for aiding farmers.

The excessive milk production in the EU, which started after the abolition of milk production quotas in April 2015, has caused a collapse of prices, which haven't yet recovered, despite the aid package of EUR 500 million announced in September 2015.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION Bruxelles

Milk production in the EU

EUR 500 million of aid

Phil Hogan

milk price collapse in the EU