Proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) amending Regulation (EEC) No 1765/92 establishing a support system for producers of certain arable crops and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1872/94 (96/C 300/11) COM(96) 422 final - 96/0212(CNS)

(Submitted by the Commission on 31 July 1996) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Articles 42 and 43 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament,

Whereas the support system for producers of certain arable crops established by Council Regulation (EEC) No 1765/92 (1), provides for compensatory payments and special aids to be granted to producers of cereals, oilseeds or protein plants and linseed in return for a cut in institutional prices and on condition that the producers participating in the general scheme set aside a certain percentage of their arable land;

Whereas the beef sector is experiencing a serious and long-lasting crisis on account of the impact of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), which makes it necessary to take a series of measures relating to the common organization of the market in beef and veal, the financing of which cannot be guaranteed to comply with budgetary discipline within the meaning of Council Decision 94/729/EC (2), whereas observance of budgetary discipline can be ensured only by making savings on other market organizations financed by the EAGGF Guarantee Section;

Whereas arable crops account for by far the largest part of EAGGF Guarantee Section expenditure; whereas that sector is also experiencing a better market situation than expected when the system provided for in Regulation (EEC) No 1765/92 was introduced; whereas, therefore, the requisite savings should be made by adjusting the compensatory payments in that sector;

Whereas, however, the protein plants sector has not developed in the same way as the other arable crops in question; whereas, to safeguard the balance between the various arable crops, compensatory payments for protein plants should be kept at their current level;

Whereas compensatory payments for arable crops from the 1997 harvest other than the advance for oilseeds are chargeable to the 1998 budget; whereas 1997 budget funds need to be released and a system of payment should be established in future which can be administered more effectively; whereas, to that end, advances for oilseeds should be postponed by setting the date from which they may be paid at 16 October;

Whereas producers are currently receiving higher compensation for set-aside than for land under cereals; whereas that difference is no longer justified given the economic situation of cereals and having regard to the various adjustments made to the set-aside scheme since it was introduced to make it more flexible; whereas, on the other hand, the current level of compensation for set-aside is likely to persuade producers to practice voluntary set-aside and this would cancel out the objective sought by reducing the rate of compulsory set-aside; whereas compensation for set-aside should therefore be aligned on that for cereals as initially provided for in Regulation (EEC) No 1765/92,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

1. Regulation (EEC) No 1765/92 is hereby amended as follows:

(a) in the third indent of Article 4 (2) 'ECU 54,34` is replaced by 'ECU 50,37`.

(b) in the last subparagraph of Article 4 (3) 'ECU 358,6` is replaced by 'ECU 332,42`;

(c) in Article 4 (5) 'ECU 138,9` is replaced by 'ECU 128,76`;

(d) in Article 5 (1) (b) 'ECU 433,5` is replaced by 'ECU 415,24`;

(e) in Article 7 (5) 'ECU 68,83` is replaced by 'ECU 50,37`;

(f) in Article 7 (6) 'ECU 48,30` is replaced by 'ECU 35,35`;

(g) in Article 11 (2) the last sentence is replaced by the following:

'The advance must be paid on or after 16 October following the harvest.` (h) in Article 6a, paragraphs 2 and 3 are replaced by the following:

'2. For the 1997/98 and subsequent marketing years, the amount of the compensatory payment per hectare for linseed referred to in Article 6a (3) shall be ECU 97,43 multiplied by the regional yield for cereals, excluding maize yields in those regions where a separate yield is applied for maize.`

(i) in Article 6a, paragraph 4 becomes paragraph 3.

2. Council Regulation (EC) No 1872/94 is hereby repealed (1).

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

It shall apply from the 1997/98 marketing year.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

(1) OJ No L 181, 1. 7. 1992, p. 12. Regulation as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 2989/95 (OJ No L 312, 23. 12. 1995, p. 5).

(2) OJ No L 293, 12. 11. 1994, p. 14.

(1) OJ No L 197, 30. 7. 1994, p. 10.