VILNIUS - The European Commission will not provide any aid to Lithuanian dairy farmers affected by the sharp drop in milk purchase prices for now, the Agriculture Ministry confirmed it to BNS on Thursday.
However, Agriculture Minister Kestutis Navickas says he is "not laying down his arms" and expects Brussels' assistance in the future.
"We have received news that our request was not taken into account by the EC during today's meeting," the minister told BNS on Thursday.
Despite this, he said, "work continues within the corridors of Brussels" to persuade them to support dairy farmers.
"We are working within other formats to get that support and we are not laying down our arms yet as we hope for a favorable decision at some point. (...) We continue to work within the Brussels format, I cannot disclose any tactical details as it is sensitive information. We hope for that aid and we are updating the data and we continue our talks," the minister said.
Lithuania had asked the EC to provide 18.6 million euros per quarter to the country's struggling dairy farmers until prices normalize.
The Agriculture Ministry has already allocated 8 million euros from the state budget to stabilize the crisis situation in the sector and help farmers maintain their cows. However, farmers say they need at least 40 million euros.
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