The agreement reached by the Council negotiators and MEPs on fairer prices for raw milk seeks to boost dairy farmers' bargaining power, ensure fairer prices for raw milk they produce and thus help them to prepare for the end of milk quotas in 2015. The agreement still need to be confirmed by the Parliament as a whole and the Council.

New rules to give farmers fairer prices for raw milk were agreed by MEPs and Council negotiators. The key aim of the proposed regulation is to boost dairy farmers' bargaining power, ensure fairer prices for raw milk they produce and thus help them to prepare for the end of milk quotas in 2015. This proposal was introduced at the request of the European Parliament after the 2009 milk crisis and the measures were presented by the Commission in December 2010.

Among the achievements reached in this deal, the volume of raw milk covered by negotiations between producers' organisation and processors or collectors may not exceed 3.5% of total EU output. Nor may it exceed either 33% of overall national production or 45% in states where total production amounts to less than 500,000 tonnes. The fair competition will be ensured with this measure.

In addition, Member States may continue to decide whether or not to impose contracts covering milk delivery from farmers to collectors or processors for their territory. However, where Member States do choose to impose compulsory contracts for milk supplies, these contracts must state the price. With regard to improve the working of the market for cheeses registered under a protected designation of origin (PDO) or protected geographical indication (PGI) and to improve their quality, MEPs inserted a provision for a supply management system, which Member States may establish provided that it in no way harms competition on the single market or leads to small cheese producers being adversely affected.