The President of the Government challenged the National Government to take "strong and effective commitment" in order to defend with Community institutions the implementation of extraordinary measures intended to minimise the effects arising from the end of the milk quota system regarding the reduction of the price of milk paid to producers.

"We believe that the consequences arising from the dismantling of the milk quota system, particularly regarding the fall of milk prices, is a challenging situation we are living in the Region. Therefore, it should deserve extraordinary responses," said Vasco Cordeiro, who spoke at the opening session of the 1st National Congress of Young Farmers.

According to him, one of these responses should be the revision process of POSEI, as defended by the Government of the Azores. It should provide additional financial support to offset the economic, social and environmental impact caused by the deregulation of their traditional markets, following the dismantling of the milk quota system.

"This case requires this strong and effective commitment of the National Government in order to demonstrate to European institutions the specific characteristics and the special circumstances of this situation in the Autonomous Region of Azores," stressed the President of the Government.

According to Vasco Cordeiro, the effects of the end of milk quotas in the Azores should not be regarded as a purely regional issue due to the important weight of the Region in the national dairy sector, accounting for about 30 percent of the country's production, but also due to the importance of this sector in the regional economy.

"The creation of mechanisms to minimise its effects should not be the exclusive responsibility of the Region, but, above all, we cannot make the mistake of considering that all measures to address this situation are already envisaged in the new Community support framework and specific issue concerning POSEI. Therefore, we cannot assume that there are already sufficient measures to respond to the effects arising from the dismantling of the quota system," warned Vasco Cordeiro.

According to the President of the Government, the current PRORURAL+ programme, in force until 2020, was defined, as in previous frameworks, to contribute to the development of the regional agricultural sector on a regular basis.

In his speech, the President of the Government noted that the new rules regarding Social Security contributions will have a penalising effect on young farmers.
"This national measure does not make sense, especially when we want to encourage and support young people in a particular sector of activity and, simultaneously, restraining their activities with the burden of excessive Social Security contributions.

In this regard, the President of the Government defended that this is a priority issue, to which the Region Government is committed. This matter must be solved as soon as possible by the National Government, otherwise it "will be making the historic mistake of penalising new farmers and, consequently, jeopardising the future of an important activity sector that should be solid, competitive and revitalised.