WRITTEN QUESTION E-0694/02

by Konstantinos Hatzidakis (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(14 March 2002)

Subject: Delays in development of organic farming in Greece

Data published by the Greek Organisation for the Certification of Organic Produce reveal that Greece produces the smallest quantity of organic produce of all the Member States.

The same organisation also notes that the Ministry for Agriculture has not yet taken the necessary measures to implement the EU Regulation on organic stock farming two years after it was adopted.

In its answer to my question E-3998/00(1), the Commission did not consider the delays in the Greek organic farming programme under Regulation (EEC) No 2078/92(2) to be significant.

1. What percentage of the total area under cultivation is organically farmed in each Member State?

2. How much funding does Greece receive from the Community budget for organic farming and how much has it used?

3. What are the reasons for the lack of progress in Greece compared with other countries?

4. What particular problems are associated with the promotion of organic stock farming in Greece?

(1) OJ C 187 E, 3.7.2001, p. 103.

(2) OJ L 215, 30.7.1992, p. 85.

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(19 April 2002)

1. According to the Commission's consolidated data for 1999, 2,6 % of the Union's utilised agricultural area is either used for or being converted to organic farming.

The Member States fall into three groups:

- those well above this average: Denmark, Italy, Austria, Finland, Sweden (between 5 % and 8,5 % of UAA);

- those around the average: Germany (2,6 %), United Kingdom (2,5 %);

- those below it: Belgium, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal (from 0,5 % in Greece to 1,3 % in Spain).

A study on Organic farming in the EU: Facts and figures can be found at: http://europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/qual/organic/index_en.htm. It looks at organic farming in the Union in some detail.

2. For a proper understanding of agri-environmental financing in Greece under Council Regulations (EEC) No 2078/92 of 30 June 1992 on agricultural production methods compatible with the requirements of protection of the environment and maintenance of the countryside(1) and (EC) No 1257/1999 of 17 May 1999 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and amending and repealing certain Regulations(2) the evolution and dynamic of the Greek measures have to be taken into account: the old programme under Regulation (EEC) No 2078/92, modified at the beginning of 1999, and the organic farming scheme included in the rural development programming document for 2000-2006 under Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 enjoy a cumulative indicative budget of some 79 400 000. The EAGGF Guarantee Section's contribution to this expenditure will total some 59 500 000. Payments under the two instruments amount, 2000 included, to 17 930 000.

It must be remembered that the old programme was restricted to virtually one whole year, 1999. Thus taking the entire 1999-2006 period (old plus new organic farming programme) payments for 1999-2000, i.e. for one quarter of the total period, account for about 23 % of the cumulative budget for organic farming. It should also be noted that in the 2000-2006 programming document organic stock farming was added as a new measure with a total budget of some 45 700 000 with the EAGGF contributing 34 300 000. Total Community assistance for organic production (crop and livestock) is therefore to be estimated at 93 800 000.

3. The above data for organic crop farming appear to confirm the Commission's assessment in its reply to the Honourable Member's question E-3998/00(3), namely that the delays in giving effect to the measure in line with the rural development programming document are not greatly significant. Greece is also, as the figures in the above Commission study show, in bottom place among the Member States for development of organic farming. In the Commission's opinion there are two main reasons for this: complexity of and slowness in creating distribution channels and processing and value-adding structures for organic products, and administrative weakness in the Agriculture Ministry as regards the agri-environmental measures.

This study does however show that Greece is above the Community average in the percentage that organic farming accounts for of total agri-environment support. The Community average for the EU 15 is 6,5 % and Greece registers 13 %, showing the increasing attractiveness of organic farming in Greece by comparison with other agri-environment action and the dynamism of this production method in Greek agriculture.

Council Regulation (EC) No 1804/1999 supplementing Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91 on organic production of agricultural products and indications referring thereto on agricultural products and foodstuffs to include livestock production(4) is new. Greece has chosen to wait for Community standards for organic stock farming and this partly explains its slow start. As indicated above organic farming is included in the 2000-2006 rural development programming document. In 2001 the national provisions to activate the programme were adopted but signature of agri-environmental commitments had not yet begun. The main reasons for this delay are as indicated above.

(1) OJ L 215, 30.7.1992.

(2) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999.

(3) OJ C 187 E, 3.7.2001.

(4) OJ L 222, 24.8.1999.