Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on:

- the "Proposal for a Council Regulation on the common organisation of the market in rice", and

- the "Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 1251/1999 establishing a support system for producers of certain arable crops, in order to include rice"

(2001/C 144/03)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the Proposal for a Council Regulation on the common organisation of the market in rice (COM(2000) 278 final - 2000/0051 CNS);

having regard to the Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 1251/1999 establishing a support system for producers of certain arable crops, in order to include rice (COM(2000) 278 final - 2000/0052 CNS);

having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on this matter (CES 1200/2000), adopted on 19 October 2000;

having regard to the decision taken by the Council on 19 June 2000, under the first paragraph of Article 265 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, to ask the Committee to issue an opinion on this subject;

having regard to the decision of its Bureau on 13 June 2000 to instruct Commission 2 - Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries - to prepare the opinion;

having regard to the draft opinion adopted by Commission 2 (CdR 346/2000 rev. 1) on 25 October 2000 (Rapporteur: Mrs Aubert, Member of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regional Council, F, PSE),

adopted the opinion set out below at its 36th plenary session held on 13 and 14 December 2000 (meeting of 14 December).

The Committee of the Regions

1. shares the Commission's view that the rice market is out of balance and characterised by growing intervention stocks, the costs of which are increasing every year; however, it does not believe that the measures proposed by the Commission will restore market balance, and fears that rice production in the European Union will become unviable;

2. points out that rice is not a crop which can be compared to other cereals, since although productivity may be greater, production costs are substantially higher. Integrating it into the general scheme for arable crops could in the long run prove damaging to this sector. Despite mechanisation, rice cultivation is still the most labour-intensive of all cereal crops;

3. considers that it would be incomprehensible if the special treatment given to maize, as an irrigated crop, was not also applied to rice, since its production costs are the same if not higher, and the social, environmental and land-use role it plays is decisive in European growing regions;

4. points out, however, that the abolition of the intervention mechanism for the rice sector alone would put farmers in a weak position vis-à-vis the industry as far as setting prices is concerned. Indeed, the Commission recognises that the intervention price has always functioned as an indicator for the market price. For rice growers the use of intervention in recent years is the result of unfavourable international agreements rather than of the producers' own practices. Furthermore, setting payment at EUR 63/t would not suffice to maintain farmers' income and would lead to farm bankruptcies;

5. maintains that, as no guarantees can be given on the holding of international negotiations with the EU's main trading partners, nor on their outcome, it would be more prudent to protect the future of rice production in Europe by negotiating new import duties before abolishing intervention, and only introducing reforms when agreement has been reached with the various international partners on new, fixed duties;

6. considers, as indicated in the ESC opinion, that the Commission's concern about an increase in the area used for rice production is unwarranted, since the conditions required for this kind of crop and the specialised mechanisation it requires cannot be transferred to other crops. Most of the traditional rice-growing areas are either to be found in shallow marshland with insufficient internal and surface drainage or in alluvial zones on the banks of rivers where the soil is made up of marine sediment and where the groundwater has a high salinity level. The soil saturation problems associated with marshland and salinity in the groundwater means that no crops other than rice can be grown. Moreover, flooding is vital to prevent groundwater levels rising, thus preventing sodium from being absorbed into the molecular structure of the clay, which would lead to its disagglomeration, i.e. the soil would lose its texture and integrity, making it unsuitable for any type of crop. In agronomic terms, set-aside is not suitable for rice areas and might indeed be harmful to the environmental balance in numerous areas presently under cultivation;

7. draws attention, as pointed out by the ESC, to the Commission's intention to include private storage as one of the measures that the Management Committee for Cereals shall be empowered to implement when market prices experience a potentially persistent sharp drop or rise. This is a vague and very general non-obligatory provision which could come under the title on General Provisions, but never under the title on the Internal Market, as is the case for the other CMOs. Moreover, the Commission does not provide for any budget for private storage in the financial statement. The Committee calls on the Commission to clarify and quantify its understanding of private storage aid when the sector is in crisis;

8. points out that the mandatory requirement to use certified seed involves an unnecessary increase in costs, the sole beneficiaries of which will be the seed suppliers. Farmers always use some certified seed and some seed which they themselves have produced and selected, since the density of sowing depends on the temperature at the start of, and during, the seed planting;

9. notes, however, that in the regions of southern Europe rice cultivation plays a key role in terms of economic activity and maintaining employment. Further, farms are often medium-sized or small concerns; sometimes, as is the case in Spain, Portugal and Greece, holdings are so small that they often are not even 10 hectares. This means that small rice growers depend almost exclusively on rice for their farm incomes. Without an intervention price, these farms will scarcely be viable;

10. considers that rice cultivation plays a key role in preserving the wetlands in some parts of southern Europe and therefore contributes to the preservation of an ecosystem maintaining a wealth of distinctive flora and fauna that have developed in symbiosis with rice growing practices. Preserving wetlands also means protecting unique landscapes linked with rice growing;

11. considers, that it is crucial for the Commission to envisage, on the one hand, a 25000 tonne reduction in rice imports as customs duty has been changed and, on the other, an equivalent reduction of Community production through set-aside. The Committee of the Regions considers that the desired, but uncertain, end result does not justify the adoption of measures that could endanger a crop which may be less significant than other cereals but is nonetheless essential to maintaining a balanced economy, environment and countryside in some southern European regions.

Brussels, 14 December 2000.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Jos Chabert