Farmers took to the streets in Brussels on Monday, demanding a law banning the sale of dairy products at a price below production costs.
Demonstrators, with fake cows painted in the colours of the European flag, marched between the headquarters of the European Parliament and the Commission in the Belgian capital.
Kjartan Poulsen, president of the European Milk Board, told Euronews that protesters wanted an EU-wide version of a Spanish law on "unfair commercial practices", which forbids selling "products below cost at all stages of the purchasing chain."
He said production costs vary from country to country depending on the cost of labour and features unique to where the farms are located.
But, in general, milk costs more for farmers to produce than what it costs to buy for consumers.
In some countries, such as Italy, the gap between production costs and selling prices is even greater than the European average, according to the president of the Po Valley Milk Producers' Association Roberto Cavaliere.
"On average, the costs of an Italian company are around 60-65 cents per litre. Currently, Italian producers earn 50 cents. We still have a gap of 15 cents".
"We ask for a fair price because the prices paid to producers over the last 25 years have never covered production costs."
According to Cavaliere, the only companies in the sector that can survive what he calls an unbalanced and unprofitable market are those that use family labour, which cuts production costs because they do not pay for their work. Others simply close.
"In 1997 there were 110 thousand milk producers in Italy, in 2023 18 thousand. Almost 90 thousand companies have closed. These are alarming figures," he said.
The Green Deal question
Among farmers' other requests are anti-crisis tools for the agricultural sector and the creation of organisations that bring together producers from different dairy supply chains.
They also want clauses to ensure that milk imported into the EU respects the environmental requirements demanded by local producers.
European farmers have asked to be more involved in drafting European measures affecting the agricultural sector.
But, compared to other farmers' protests in recent months, those protesting on Monday were less focused on the Green Deal, the EU plan to eliminate net emissions of climate-changing gases by 2050 that has strong repercussions on agriculture.
Cavaliere, however, asked to cancel the "Farm to Fork" programme, the branch of the Green Deal dedicated to the agricultural sector.
"The measures to protect the environment are old: that is, they were created on data and concepts from twenty years ago, which are no longer feasible today."
A concrete example, in his opinion, was the so-called "nitrates directive ", a provision which requires the protection of waters from pollution caused by nitrates of agricultural origin, contained in fertilizers and animal faeces.
"Five years ago it was demonstrated that organic fertilizers in the soil did not affect groundwater pollution, but the fact that 80 per cent of Italian municipalities did not have wastewater management."
Dairy farmers said they have an open dialogue with European Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski and want to increase pressure ahead of the European elections.
