WRITTEN QUESTION P-1917/97 by Giacomo Santini (UPE) to the Commission (27 May 1997)

Subject: Regulation (EC) No 411/97 applying the new COM

The repeated frosts in April 1997 irreparably damaged much of the fruit and vegetable crop in a huge area in which this sector is of prime economic and social importance, both in terms of the crops produced and in terms of the associated economic activities they generate.

I refer to the crops in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino-Alto Adige, Veneto, Emilia Romagna, Lombardia, Piemonte, Valle d'Aosta and Calabria at the most delicate physiological stage between flowering and setting.

The damage is extremely serious and risks jeopardizing the profits of the entire sector. Regulation (EC) No 411/97 ((OJ L 62, 4.3.1997, p. 9. )) applying the new COM provides that the entire operational fund should be adjusted in line with the turnover of the producer organizations in the previous year. In this situation, with sales in 1998 expected to collapse, a reduction in possible investment is also likely.

1. Will the Commission, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 ((OJ L 297, 21.11.1996, p. 1. )), take into account, for the purposes of calculating the operational fund, the average value of marketing production over the preceding three-year period in order to enable the producer organizations to make full use of the financial instrument made available by the EU itself?

2. Will the Commission propose an amendment to Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 on financial aid for the operational programmes stipulating that the total amount of financial aid paid by the Commission must - for the first two years of application of the reform - be equal to 6% of the total sales of all the producer organizations, thereby reducing the percentage of the funds borne by the producers? The EAGGF will still have to guarantee 3.5% of contributions to the operational programmes or action plans whose cost is met by the Community's producer organizations.

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (2 July 1997)

1. In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 on the new common organization of the market (COM) in the fruit and vegetable sector and Regulation (EC) No 411/97, the operational fund and the ceiling on Community financial aid are calculated on the basis of the turnover (value of production) of the producer organization during the year which precedes that for which the operational fund will be used. Taking into consideration the turnover for a year which is as close as possible to the year of implementation of the operational fund takes account of the need to use a reference for the calculation of Community aid which reflects as closely as possible the economic situation of the producer organization at the time when it presents its operational fund and programme.

In the event of a sharp reduction in turnover and, consequently, in the maximum amount of Community financial aid which a producer organization can claim for the following year, it is considered in general that the organization in question will, on its own initiative, reduce the size of its operational fund (and the amount of financial aid requested) to take account of the reduction in the capacity of its members to contribute.

However, the Commission is at present examining to what extent it would be advisable to take account, under this scheme, of a very sharp drop in the turnover of a producer organization ascribable to a natural disaster.

2. The Commission does not consider the request for an increase in the Community ceiling on financial aid (fixed at 2% and 2.5%, as from 1999, of the turnover of all producer organizations), on the grounds of the disasters which struck certain regions of the Community, to be justified. Indeed, in the Community fruit and vegetable sector, the ups and downs in production in different regions largely cancel one another out, so that the ceiling mentioned above ensures, on average, a fair level of aid for all Community producer organizations.