The meeting of the Council for the Dairy Industry which focused on a model for determining the purchase price of milk was adjourned for an hour at the request of representatives of the dairy industry so that they could voice their opinion about a proposed price of EUR 0.33 per litre, Branko Karamarkovic of the Croatian Milk Farmers Association told reporters after the session was adjourned on Thursday.
Karamarkovic said he was confident they were close to an agreement.
The meeting which started around 11 AM on Wednesday and was adjourned late on Wednesday evening resumed this afternoon.
Although representatives of the Croatian Milk Farmers Association announced they would not attend today's meeting as a sign of protest against the arrest of 29 protesting milk farmers late on Wednesday evening, reporters saw several members of the association entering the Agriculture Ministry where the session was being held.
Milk farmers have been protesting for ten days now outside the Dukat dairy company in Zagreb and its daughter company Sirela in Bjelovar, and over the last few days the protests have spread to a number of other locations across the country.
The president of the strongest opposition party - the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) - Jadranka Kosor, received representatives of the protesting milk farmers in parliament on Thursday, saying that the government and the prime minister personally needed to resolve this problem.
