Mr. Aidan O'Driscoll:

The net effect would have been to give us an extra milk quota of 2%. We fought really hard for this. The Commissioner had to make the proposal and, in his wisdom, decided he would only make it if he was guaranteed in advance a qualified majority in the Council. We fought very hard with colleagues to get this. We secured a clear majority in the Council but failed to achieve a qualified majority. A number of countries - some very unusual allies - lined up against the proposal. Therefore, we did not secure it. Unfortunately, that was the last chance to avoid this significant superlevy bill.

Personally, as somebody who is deeply involved - as I led the team of officials in the CAP negotiations, I have been up and down the EU policy area for years - the application of a superlevy this year after we abolished quotas truly does not reflect well on the European Union. However, the fact is that we failed to achieve a qualified majority in the Council and we have a bill for €69 million.