Not even the first session was carried out without protests outside the Parliament´s Headquarters. Joined by their cows, three thousand milk producers demonstrated on the day the European Parliament began its sessions, demanding a stop to the liberalization of the dairy products market.

The producers are demanding the establishment of a minimum price for milk, so that they continue working in a way that enables them to survive, stated some of the demonstrators.

José Bové, environmentalist MEP and a referent for the grassroot movement Via Campesina, joined the protest.

“The situation is very dramatic ….we are destroying the existing mechanism when it comes to milk quotas. That we allow the food industry to buy milk below the cost of production is in sharp contrast with what the European Common Agricultural Policy should actually be delivering”, stated Bové, according to Euronews agency.

The European authorities have stated that they are willing to postpone for a year the economic support they give to the sector. In addition, after the protests, the unions of producers who organized the mobilization were invited to participate in the first meeting of the bloc´s Agricultural Commission, so that they can raise their demands.