WRITTEN QUESTION E-0684/97 by Friedhelm Frischenschlager (ELDR) to the Commission (6 March 1997)

Subject: Application of the codecision procedure to the common agricultural policy

Part A of the final report of the Temporary Committee of Inquiry on alleged contraventions or maladministration in the implementation of Community law in relation to BSE, which was adopted by the European Parliament, by a very large majority, on Wednesday, 19 February 1997 during its February part-session in Strasbourg, makes provision in the section entitled 'Recommendations' for the Commission, together with the European Parliament, to call at the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) for the codecision procedure to be applied to agricultural policy matters.

As part of the critical scrutiny of the Commission's implementation of the measures recommended by the European Parliament, I have the following questions for Commissioner Fischler (DG VI), who has political responsibility for the common agricultural policy:

Will the Commission follow the above recommendation made by the European Parliament?

If not, why not?

If so, what practical steps has the Commission taken so far to ensure that this recommendation is implemented?

In the Commission's view, what are the ten most important questions arising in connection with this matter?

What are the elements making up the Commission proposal?

In what way will the Commission work together with the European Parliament to implement this recommendation?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (12 May 1997)

In so far as the Honourable Member refers to point 3.5 of Parliament's recommendations in its report on bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the Commission would point out that it has proposed to the intergovernmental conference that the codecision procedure should in general be extended to all the Community's legislative activity. It has suggested defining legislative areas on the basis of objective criteria set out in its report on the scope of the codecision procedure which was presented to the conference ((Commission Report under Article 189b of the EC Treaty on the scope of the codecision procedure (SEC (96) 1225). )).

With regard more particularly to the common agricultural policy, the Commission has proposed that the codecision procedure be applied to a number of areas to be explicitly referred to in the Treaty which concern the conception and orientation of the common agricultural policy.

As indicated in the above-mentioned Commission report, this would in practice involve:

- certain aspects of the common market organizations referred to in Article 40(3) of the EC Treaty. A specific procedural solution should be found with Parliament in instruments adopted by codecision procedure in cases were there is an urgent need for the Council to amend an act;

- application of the competition rules to production of agricultural products and trade in these products;

- the setting up of one or more agricultural guidance and guarantee funds provided for in Article 40(4) of the EC treaty;

- common rules on public health, animal and plant health, animal welfare, feedingstuffs and seeds;

- structural policy in agriculture and fisheries;

- policy on product quality.

The Commission will continue to endeavour to convince the Member States within the conference to adopt its proposal, which concurs with that of Parliament, that all legislative acts should be adopted by the codecision procedure. Within the conference it has always, and again recently, been unequivocally in favour of generalizing the codecision procedure to apply to all legislation.

With regard more particularly to health protection in agriculture, the Commission proposed in its report to the conference that the Community should be given real powers to harmonize rules pertaining to human health at Community level, particularly in the areas of animal and plant health, and to do so using the codecision procedure.

Under the current EC Treaty, the Commission has undertaken to give priority to recourse to Article 100a for proposals whose main object is human or animal health in the veterinary and plant health sectors. In accordance with the undertakings to Parliament, the first amendments to replace the legal basis initially proposed by Article 100a have meanwhile been submitted to the Council.