Text tabled : A7-0262/2011

  Charles Tannock (ECR). – Mr President, I voted alongside my group, the ECR, in favour of the report on contractual relations in the milk and milk products sector. We believe that the report serves to address some concerns about the lack of bargaining power for farmers – yes, there are even some dairy farmers in the London region, which I represent – when negotiating with processors or retailers, and we back the move to recognise formally any inter-branch organisation at Member State level, provided they meet certain criteria.

EU Member States are left the choice to opt into the contracts, which we as a group also believe is extremely important. We believe that the proposals put forward in this report for those states that choose to comply are satisfactory and that the percentages requested for producer organisations are also realistic. Overall, we believe that the proposals in this report will not serve to lessen competition in the milk sector, which would be our main concern and which we would, of course, oppose as a group.