WRITTEN QUESTION E-1281/01

by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(3 May 2001)

Subject: Problems associated with drought and lack of water for irrigation in Greece

In the coming months, farms in many areas of Greece will be faced with a severe shortage of water for irrigation owing to the scant amount of rainfall during the winter and the failure to carry out any related large or small-scale projects (e.g. reservoirs, aquifer enrichment). The exceptionally high unseasonable temperatures (37 °C) in the last ten days of March and the warm wind which affected certain regions (Thessaly and Central Greece) have already severely damaged cereal crops and, in some cases, devastated the entire production.

Bearing in mind that drought affects not only agricultural production and farmers' incomes but also the environment and that it is, therefore, imperative to take immediate measures:

1. Has the Commission been informed by Greece about potential drought? Have the Greek authorities submitted any particular request for measures to deal with the situation and alleviate the repercussions?

2. What plans have been made under the 3rd CSF for structural measures to improve and bring down the cost of water resource management?

3. Will compensation be paid to those farmers whose cereal production was damaged by the high temperatures in March?

4. Will measures be taken to assist those farmers who, owing to the shortage of water for irrigation, will either be forced not to grow or to restrict their crops, or will suffer a loss of production and income? (Exemption from the co-responsibility levy for small farmers; application of Article 13(b) of Regulation (EC) 1750/1999(1) etc.)?

(1) OJ L 214, 13.8.1999, p. 31.

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(16 July 2001)

1. The Commission has received no recent specific information on the drought in Greece and the Greek authorities have not yet submitted any specific request of the sort referred to by the Honourable Member.

2. The Community support framework (CSF) for Greece for the 2000-2006 programming period includes a series of measures to improve management of water resources there, principally in Chapter II, page 56. The full text may be found at www.inforegio.cec.eu.int. Moreover, the rural development operational programme in that CSF and the regional programmes include measures to reduce demand for irrigation water and promote its rational management. Measures to encourage extensive farming with less irrigation and better environmental protection through the management of inputs and natural resources, including water, are also provided for under the agri-environmental measures in the rural development plan part-financed by the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF), Guarantee Section.

3. The EAGGF has no legal basis to use part-financed measures to offset the losses of income caused by the drought,. However, the Commission could examine State aid for that purpose under communication(1) establishing the guidelines for State aid in the agriculture sector, if the Greek authorities notified such an aid under Articles 87 (formerly Article 92) and 88 (formerly Article 93) of the EC Treaty.

4. The reduced harvest and income following the drought cannot in themselves justify agri-environmental aid under Article 13(b) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1750/1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF), because a condition of this Regulation is the preservation of plant genetic resources adapted to the local and regional conditions and under threat of genetic erosion. On this basis, the rural development plan approved by the Commission in September 2000 includes a list of species and of threatened plant varieties which may not be extended.

The arrangements for the coresponsability levy were terminated in 1992 when the common agricultural policy was reformed. Since they were increased under Agenda 2000, the direct area aids introduced by that reform, which represent approximately a third of total income, help stabilise the incomes of producers of arable crops through their fixed character and independence of the harvest.

(1) OJ C 28, 1.2.2000.