Tunne Kelam: Crisis in agriculture

17.09.2015 11:43

Tunne Kelam: Crisis in agriculture

Important notice
Views expressed here are the views of the national delegation and do not always reflect the views of the group as a whole

The real situation and economic survival of the European farmers is threatened by the current crisis and needs to be addressing both by the EU Commission as well by the respective member states.

In addition, the farmers' situation is dependent also from their country of residence. What is worrying me especially is the fact that the income gap between countries which joined the EU since 2004, and older member states, has during the past 11 years remained practically the same or even widened.

Ironically, even today the Orwell's famous saying "all are equal but some are more equal" holds true.

The current crisis in the dairy sector is a dramatic example of this inequality. In Estonia, the milk prices for producers are about one third lower than the EU average.

Both the EU and the member states need to work to eliminate such an inacceptable divide to ensure fair conditions for all participants.

The EC has foreseen 500 million extra aid to EU farmers with Estonia anticipated to get some 7 million. This is clearly not enough to address the crisis and to balance inequality of incomes.  They need more both from EU and from the national budget.

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