May 22 - A major industry lobby of European dairy farmers threatened this week to launch a Europe-wide strike over falling wholesale milk prices following protests throughout Europe.
The European Milk Board issued a statement with the French OPL lobby saying: "The problem of milk prices is a European problem. A serious milk policy must be quickly implemented in Europe.
"If these demands are not heard, the producers will then decide to stage a European milk strike."
Dairy farmers from across Europe are planning protests in Brussels next Monday during a meeting of European Union farm ministers that is to address the crisis in the milk industry.
European Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel recently rejected calls for a return to milk quotas, which the E.U. agreed to phase out by 2015 and which served to stabilize prices.
The price of milk has dropped dramatically over the past year in Europe.