EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 88/303

(2004/C 88 E/0310)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3780/02

by Kathleen Van Brempt (PSE) to the Commission

(6 January 2003)

Subject: Implementation of Regulation (EC) No 1259/1999: reports by the Member States concerning environmental measures and aid schemes in agriculture

Regulation (EC) No 1259/1999 (1) and Implementing Regulation (EC) No 963/2001 (2) lay down common rules relating to the aid scheme under the common agricultural policy, with, in particular, the receipt of aid being made conditional upon environmental protection measures being taken. In this instance, Member States may opt either for general, binding environmental requirements, for aid granted in exchange for specific agri-environmental measures or for specific environmental measures upon which the payment of direct income support is conditional. Member States may reduce or withdraw such aid in the event of noncompliance with the relevant environmental requirements. The first report on the implementation of this Regulation during the period 2000-2001 had to be submitted to the Commission no later than 30 April 2002.

1. Has each Member State duly submitted that report?

2. Has the Commission completed an evaluation report on the reports so submitted, and can it give a detailed description of all the measures taken under the two Regulations?

3. To what extent do the Member States use the opportunities and impose the legal penalties set out in these Regulations?

4. What are the general environmental implications of these measures?

5. How, and to what extent, have these measures had an impact on the use of pesticides in agriculture in the various Member States and regions and in specific areas?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(28 February 2003)

The reporting obligations for the application of the horizontal Council Regulation (EC) No 1259/1999 of 17 May 1999 establishing common rules for direct support schemes under the common agricultural policy are laid down in the implementing Commission Regulation (EC) No 963/2001 of 17 May 2001. Its Articles 2 and 3 contain the provisions on the content and timetable of the information to be transmitted to the Commission.

According to Article 3(1) of Regulation (EC) No 963/2001 annual reports on the implementation of environmental protection requirements (Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1259/1999) and modulation (Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1259/1999) shall be submitted by 30 April each year, starting in 2002.

The Commission has received the first annual reports from all Member States with the exception of Belgium, Spain, Luxembourg and Portugal.

The Agriculture' Council, in its conclusions on Environmental Integration and Sustainable Development in the Common Agricultural Policy for the European Council at Göteborg, 15-16 June 2001, invited the Commission ‘to submit a synthesis report in year 2003 on the measures carried out by Member States in relation to measures referred to in the Common Rules Regulation (EC) No 1259/1999 including a qualitative indication of the effects on environment and sustainable development based on the reporting by Member States’.

The Commission, based on the information submitted by the Member States in 2002 and 2003, will be preparing this report in the course of the year 2003. Based on two years of reporting it will be possible to give a first overview of the application of the horizontal Regulation by the Member States and a qualitative appraisal of the effects of the measures that they have taken.

(1) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 113.

(2) OJ L 136, 18.5.2001, p. 4.