Representatives of the Croatian Federation of Associations of Milk Producers (HSUPM) walked out of a meeting of the Council for the Dairy Industry at the Ministry of Agriculture in Zagreb on Wednesday, dissatisfied that the purchase price of milk was included as the last item on the agenda of the meeting, which was to have addressed demands by protesting dairy farmers.
The representatives of the dairy farmers left the meeting after 15 minutes. They said they would request a meeting with President Ivo Josipovic and Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic, stressing that they would not give up their demands and would continue their protests.
The HSUPM team of negotiators wanted the item on the purchase price of milk to be shifted from the bottom of the extensive agenda, which Agriculture Minister Tomislav Jakovina refused.
They said that they had formally presented their demands to the Ministry today.
Milk producers are demanding an agreement on the purchase price of milk, subsidising of production costs, a reduction of Value Added Tax to 8.5% for material required for the production of raw milk, and fixing of the price of blue-dyed diesel.
They demand that the minimum purchase price of milk be formed based on the average price in the 27 European Union member states for the previous three months. They want the Agriculture Ministry to subsidise production costs and the government to intervene on the dairy market with 0.42 kuna for one kilogram of milk for the period from November 1, 2011 until Croatia's entry into the EU, which is set for July 1, 2013.
