The Regional Government reiterated its position towards the reinforcement of financial support to milk production after the end of the milk quota system in 2015 at the meeting held by the European Commission to hear Outermost Regions on the public consultation on POSEI.

"The European Commission stressed that this public consultation fulfils the obligation of revising the milk quota system until the end of the year," stated the Regional Directorate for Agriculture and Rural Development. The government official added that the contribution provided by the Azores in the document sent to Brussels stresses "the importance of POSEI in traditional sectors (dairy and meat) and agricultural diversification."

Fátima Amorim emphasised that the implementation of POSEI in the Azores has "increased the production of horticultural crops and flowers; the latter has reached unprecedented levels of quantity and quality, which has boosted exports to other European countries."

During the meeting held in Brussels on Thursday, the representatives of Outermost Regions unanimously recognised that this Community programme is an important tool for the development of agriculture and rural areas. In this regard, the European Commission took the commitment of "carefully analysing the 600 contributions" provided under the public consultation that ended this week.

The Regional Director also revealed that the European Commission assured "that ORs will maintain a POSEI scheme based on flexibility in the choice of measures, the possibility of making changes on an annual basis and the continuity of tied aid."