The President of the Government defended today that the situation the dairy sector is facing requires an urgent European solution, which is why the Executive puts a lot of expectation in the European Council of Agricultural Ministers, scheduled for next Monday.
 
Vasco Cordeiro proceeded, throughout the day, with a round of hearings with MEPs, political parties and the social partners in the sector to consolidate and strengthen a common position of the Region in the context of the Government's participation in this European Council of Ministers and the preparation of the meeting between the President of the Government and European Commissioner, Phil Hogan, in April.
 
"One aspect that has been emphasised over all meetings concerns the fact that this is a European problem. There are neither national nor regional solutions to this problem. There has to be a European solution to this problem and, for that reason, the European Council of Agricultural Ministers to held Monday is very important," said the President of the Government.
 
Speaking to journalists, Vasco Cordeiro stressed that this round of hearings also passes on a message that must be properly understood by European policy makers. It has to do with the fact of being "on the brink of the perfect storm."
 
"This means that there is a serious of factors - high stocks, price drop and, moreover, the fact that we are entering a seasonal increase in production - which can set up the situation in the milk sector as a perfect storm, "he said.
 
Vasco Cordeiro refused, on the other hand, the perspective of some countries that believe the solution for this situation is to give more room to each State in order to create measures that would compensate producers facing this situation.
 
"I believe this idea should be rejected for two reasons: firstly, because this problem was created in Europe and, therefore, has to be solved at European level. Secondly, putting the responsibility to create measures that can respond to this situation on each State is to make the intensity of support dependant on the financial capacity of each State," said the President of the Government.
 
According to the President of the Government, this does not mean that national or regional measures should not be created to help solving the issue; some of them may even use Community mechanisms and tools.
 
"But one thing is consider that this might be something that is should be complementary. Another thing is to impose solutions on the State with the aim of nationalising solutions for a European problem, which must be totally rejected," said Vasco Cordeiro. The President of the Government spoke after receiving MEPs Sofia Ribeiro and Ricardo Serrão Santos, the political parties represented at the Legislative Assembly, the Agricultural Federation, Lactaçores and the National Association of Dairy Industries.
 
After these meetings, where he was accompanied by the Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Environment, Luís Neto Viveiros, and the Regional Under Secretary of the Presidency for External Relations, Rodrigo Oliveira, the President of the Government assured that the Region has used all mechanisms and all possibilities, within its reach, to create measures with the aim of support production and providing an outlet for dairy products.
 
In this context, Vasco Cordeiro pointed out, among other measures, the issues concerning the anticipation and increase of aid, the creation of credit lines, the support to transport, the promotion of factors for product differentiation, such as the Azores Brand, and several systems incentives
 
"The latest series of measures that was announced in late 2015 represents, in terms of financial allocation, more than the amount of aid the European Union granted to the entire country," said the President of the Government.
 
After pointing out that the issue mainly concerns the provision of an outlet for these products, the President of the Government defended that the efforts the European Union should undertake would have to solve, as soon as possible, the Russian ban, which would allow the access of European dairy products to this large market. The problem cannot be solved with the creation of measures to restrain production.
 
Moreover, the European Union has yet to exhaust the measures that could and should be put into practice, Vasco Cordeiro defended, pointing out the examples of early retirement scheme, which is no longer supported, milk buy-back for the restructuring of the sector. These measures aimed at production have ensured the balance of the sector and boosted competitiveness.
 
Another important aspect concerns POSEI, which was created to address other situations, other imbalances and other needs and "not to respond to the Russian ban, lower consumption and the abolition of the quota system," said the President of the Government.
 
"We need to ensure our autonomy in terms of mechanisms and funding sources so that we can clearly identify that POSEI only responds to certain situations. That is why one of the possible solutions we defend should be the further increase of POSEI in order to allow also some interventions that we consider important in this context," stated Vasco Cordeiro.
 
"For all this, we put a lot of expectation on the meeting to be held next Monday. Time is short and it is not acceptable a much longer delay on the taking of decisions at European level," concluded the President of the Government.