WRITTEN QUESTION E-1580/97 by Amedeo Amadeo (NI) to the Commission (6 May 1997)

Subject: Reform of the COM in olive oil

If the Commission's proposed reform were to come about, under which the premium would be tied to the number of olive trees, this would seriously affect olive-growing in Apulia, which is characterized by quality and efforts to improve holdings.

Can the Commission take steps to:

1. maintain production aid granted in relation to the quantity of oil actually produced, abolishing the system of a flat-rate payment for small producers;

2. abolish consumption aid, using the resources thus released to help market the product;

3. increase the Community MGQ to take account of average production in recent years and the increased consumption of olive oil in the Member States and non-EU countries. The MGQ should be increased to 1 550 000 tonnes and divided up into national reference quantities (NRQs) per country on the basis of the average production in each Member State during the five years preceding the introduction of the new COM;

4. maintain an intervention price, extending the period of access to intervention and setting up a regulating stock to guarantee stability of supplies and presses;

5. improve the system of monitoring and combating fraud, by making use of all the instruments available at the level of both production (an olive oil register, producers' organizations, etc.) and the market (product analysis), given that monitoring is fundamental to the smooth functioning of the COM and that, as well as having an impact on the Community budget, fraud leads to distortions within the olive oil sector;

6. improve quality, by a general ban on mixing olive oil with other vegetable oils;

7. step up Community measures to help the production and consumption of olive oil, by allocating the necessary budget appropriations for this sector for each marketing year?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (3 June 1997)

On 12 February 1997, the Commission adopted a paper ((COM(97) 57. )) for the attention of the Parliament and the Council, which describes the functioning of the current olive oil common market organisation (CMO), its shortcomings and a number of options for its improvement. These range from keeping the present system with improved controls and without the flat-rate aid for small producers (who would be paid on a real production basis) to changing the system entirely and paying a flat-rate tree-based aid to all producers. Other matters for discussion include whether or not to retain the consumption aid, the introduction of national quotas and, in the case of the tree aid, the details of modulation. The problem of olive oil and seed oil mixtures is also raised in the paper.

There have already been lengthy discussions in the Council on the paper and discussions have also started in the Parliament. When these discussions are completed the Commission will analyse all the reactions and make a definitive proposal for the reform of the CMO in time for the 1998 marketing year. In the context of this analysis the Honourable Member's comments on the particular situation in Puglia will be taken into account.

While the Commission cannot now comment on specific issues such as the nature or amount of the maximum guaranteed quantities, the actual form of the aid or the future of the intervention mechanism, it can be said that the fight against fraud, the simplification of the CMO and the pursuit of quality will be important elements of any proposal, as will the continuation of efforts at Community level to promote the consumption of olive oil.