European dairy farmers threaten strike
(PARIS) - The biggest lobby of European dairy farmers threatened Wednesday to launch a Europe-wide strike over plummeting wholesale milk prices following protests in France and other European countries.
"The problem of milk prices is a European problem," said the European Milk Board in joint statement with the OPL dairy producers' lobby in France.
"A serious milk policy must be quickly implemented in Europe," the two groups said.
"If these demands are not heard, the producers will then decide to stage a European milk strike."
Dairy farmers from across Europe are planning protests in Brussels on Monday during a meeting of European Union farm ministers that is to address the crisis in the milk industry.
European Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel last month rejected calls for a return to milk quotas which the EU agreed to phase out by 2015 and which served to stabilise prices.
The price of milk has dropped dramatically over the past year in Europe, part of a general decrease in food prices.
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