Vienna - Agriculture ministers and officials from 20 European Union countries gathered in Vienna on Monday in an effort to push for EU measures to support milk prices.

The aim was to update a set of demands to be put the European Commission, Austrian Agriculture Minister Nikolaus Berlakovich told reporters shortly before the meeting started.

"I expect the Commission not to say no to our demands, but to accept them," Berlakovich said.

The meeting comes a week before the next formal council of EU farm ministers in Luxembourg.

The main short-term proposals of participating countries are to include prolonging EU support for exports and buying up milk stocks, as well as programmes to push for more use of milk in animal feed and other markets.

That EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel rejected member states' proposals last week was "extremely unfortunate, to put it mildly, and extremely unsatisfying," Berlakovich said.

Britain, Cyprus, Denmark, Greece, the Netherlands, Malta and Sweden were not represented at the Vienna meeting. (dpa)