PORTUGAL : PORTUGAL FINED EQUIVALENT OF 475 MILLION ROUBLES BY EUROPEAN UNION FOR PRODUCING TOO MUCH MILK

In a world in which there are people starving to death, it would seem inconceivable that a country should be penalised for over-production of foodstuffs but this is exactly what has happened in the case of Portugal. The milk quota imposed on Portugal by the European Commission was 60,000 tonnes for the last year and because this was exceeded, Brussels will retain the equivalent of 475 m. roubles, creating extreme treasury difficulties for the Portuguese Agricultural Ministry. Last year, Portugal was forced to bury millions of tonnes of oranges because Brussels stipulated that they were millimetres short of the accepted size. If anyone in the third world, in which there are people dying of hunger, reads this news and feels outrage at the fact that countries in which obesity rates are rising 30% every ten years are imposing penalties for producing too much food, one understands fully and feels sick to be part of this ridiculous charade.

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey, Lisbon