Agriculture, EU – Baltic States, Legislation, Lithuania, Markets and Companies

In the view of Lithuanian MEP Bronis Rope, who has joined the Lithuanian farmers in Brussels, the EU member-states must prepare a clear anti-crisis plan as soon as possible: create a fair payment mechanism and define crisis criteria so that farmers would know when and what kind of support they can expect.

"Today we must talk not about whether to give them money or not: we must establish concrete measures to help out the milk sector, i.e. to decide where investments should go and how to curb the increase of production volume, prevent unfair actions of processors and traders," the MEP says.

MEP Rope, Lithuania's only representative in the European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, says he cannot understand why the European Commission had delayed the solution for so long.

"Milk should not be cheaper than water. Milk production is a lengthy process which requires a lot of costs () We must also finally understand that the dairy sector's problems are not just farmers' problems. The dairy production and trade sector employs many people, therefore, if farmers decide to leave the sector, the impact will be tremendous," says representative of Lithuanian Peasants and Greens Union.