WRITTEN QUESTION P-0677/02

by Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(5 March 2002)

Subject: Support for local breeds

Support for the production of local breeds is desirable in order to preserve the genetic heritage and maintain biodiversity, and also to promote the production of quality meat, an activity which is environment-friendly and contributes to the preservation of large numbers of jobs in areas with specific problems (mountain areas), thus helping combat depopulation. The recent BSE crisis and its consequences for the beef sector have highlighted the issues of quality meat production and food safety.

In this context, it is disturbing to note that 2001 saw a fall of over 20 % in the production of meat from local breeds of cattle, together with a reduction, in some instances, of 50 % in the case of producers in Portugal. The main cause, which is affecting the eleven protected designations of origin in this field, was the transition from the support mechanisms under the second Community support framework to those under the third CSF, involving, in particular, delays in the granting of aid and low incentive levels.

Can the Commission:

- clarify the nature of the existing support mechanisms for the promotion of local breeds and the amounts involved for the periods 1994-1999 and 200-2006, both at EU level and broken down by Member State and breed?

- specify its responsibility as regards the problems encountered in the transition from the second to the third CSF?

- state whether it intends to submit new measures and incentives in support of producers of local breeds and in promotion of quality meat production?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(4 April 2002)

In the previous programming period (1993-1999) as in the current one (2000-2006), the maintenance of endangered local breed livestock-farming was eligible for support within the framework of the rural development policy, as an agri-environmental measure. This agri-environmental support helps to realise one of the goals of this policy, i.e. the improvement of genetic diversity. It does not aim to promote quality meat production, the maintenance of jobs in less-favoured areas, or food security. The Community agricultural and cohesion policies will use different instruments to achieve these other objectives.

For the programming period 1993-1999 these measures were conceived as agri-environmental programmes, laid down in Council Regulation (EEC) No 2078/92 of 30 June 1992 on agricultural production methods compatible with the requirements of the protection of the environment and the maintenance of the countryside(1). Article 4 of this Regulation set the maximum eliglible amount of support at 100(2) per livestock unit (LU). Community aid in this area continues for the period 2000-2006 under Council Regulation (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(3), which incorporates all the support schemes for rural development and inter alia the aims pursued by Regulation (EEC) No 2078/92, within the same regulatory instrument. Under the agri-environmental measures referred to in Articles 22 to 24, support is granted to farmers who commit themselves, inter alia, to maintaining genetic diversity. The Annex to this Regulation sets the maximum eligible amount of support that Member States can grant to the recipients of such an action at 450/hectare (ha).

The Commission is not in a position to provide a breakdown of support by Member State and breed for the two programming periods, given the many different ways in which the Member States have implemented this action and the large volume of resulting data. Regarding the period 1993-1999, the Commission invites the Honourable Member to refer to the evaluation report on the implementation of Regulation (EEC) No 2078/92, which can be found at the address http://europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/envir/programs/index_fr.htm. Concerning the current phase, all these details are registered in the rural development plans, all of which are sent to Parliament in compliance with the Parliament-Commission code of conduct of 6 May 1999 on the implementation by the Commission of the structural policies. The Commission will provide Parliament and the Council with further details on this action and on the other rural development measures in due course within the framework of the synthesis at Community level of monitoring the rural development programme implementation.

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1750/1999 of 23 July 1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999(4) (replaced by Regulation (EC) No 445/2002(5)) stipulates in Article 13 that agri-environmental support can cover the commitment to rear endangered local breeds. The Annex to the same Commission Regulation (item 9, VI, 2nd indent) requires the Member States to supply evidence of the endangered status of the breed consistent with scientific data accepted by international authorities regarded as authorities in this field. The examination of the rural development programmes (RDPs) showed that many Member States had failed to provide the evidence required by the above-mentioned provision. Consequently, the Commission based the assessment of the endangered status of a breed on the FAO's World Watch list (WWL) for Domestic Animal Diversity (editions 2 and 3), currently the only generally available international reference in this area. However, the criteria followed by the FAO since 1996 in establishing their lists are particularly restrictive, especially compared to those applied by the Community under the terms of Regulation (EEC) No 2078/1992. According to these criteria, in the new RDPs, many breeds already receiving agri-environmental aid under Regulation (EEC) No 2078/1992 were excluded.

As a result of questions raised by the majority of Member States at meetings of the Agriculture Council, the Commission concluded that the FAO criteria proved to be too restrictive for the purposes of the Council Regulation and that, consequently, more appropriate criteria had to be defined for the implementation of this measure. Pending these, an interim and retroactive solution seemed necessary from 1 January 2000. Thus, on the basis of an amendment to Regulation (EC) No 1750/1999 (Commission Regulation (EC) No 672/2001, of 2 April 2001 amending Regulation (EC) No 1750/1999(6)), Member States were permitted until 31 December 2001 (the transitional period allowed for) to make new five-year commitments for breeds already supported during the previous programming period.

Within the framework of the recasting exercise of the above-mentioned Commission Regulation, currently in the process of publication, the new concept of endangered breeds and the new eligibility thresholds have been incorporated into Community legislation and will be implemented in the current programming period. These criteria are less restrictive than those used during the previous programming period, which should allow this action to be implemented more broadly and, ultimately, for the genetic diversity objective registered in the Council Regulation to be achieved.

In view of the above, the Commission believes that it has already undertaken the necessary actions to support the livestock-farming of endangered local breeds.

(1) OJ L 215, 30.7.1992.

(2) Amount revised to 120,8/LU as a result of Commission Regulation (EC) No 2772/95 of 30 November 1995 replacing the values in ecus of Regulation (EEC) No 2078/92, OJ L 288, 1.12.1995.

(3) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999.

(4) OJ L 214, 13.8.1999.

(5) OJ L 74, 15.3.2002.

(6) OJ L 93, 3.4.2001.