WRITTEN QUESTION E-0876/00

by Paulo Casaca (PSE) to the Commission

(22 March 2000)

Subject: Discrimination against extensive meat production in the Autonomous Region of the Azores by Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999

The Commission's reply to my question E-0039/00(1) is rather surprising. Does this reply mean that the Commission's view is that in countries with large foraging areas bovine animals are systematically castrated?

In the Autonomous Region of the Azores, in which one of the most extensive forms of cattle farming in Europe is practised, precisely because it has large foraging areas that are undoubtedly more stable than those in France, the United Kingdom and even Ireland, this is certainly not the case, because of the Azores' traditional, individualised approach to farming, which contrasts with the more modern, open-field approach in those other countries.

Council Regulation 1254/1999(2) makes the assumption (see Recital 5) that the conditions of steer production necessarily differ from those of bull production, which explains the distinction made in Article 4. Given that this assumption is totally unjustified, at least with regard to the Autonomous Region of the Azores, will the Commission consider amending the provisions to ensure that they reflect the real situation?

(1) OJ C 303 E, 24.10.2000, p. 134.

(2) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 21.

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(27 April 2000)

The answer given by the Commission to written question E-0039/00 from the Honourable Member(1) was intended to make clear that conditions of rearing and the quality of meat obtained are different as between non-castrated male bovine animals (bulls) and castrated ones (steers). The reference to Member States with a large area under fodder crops was a simple observation of fact.

The Commission is well-aware of cattle farming conditions in the Azores as the result of a special mission carried out at the end of 1993 to monitor the scheme to support livestock production contained in Council Regulation (EEC) No 1600/92 of 15 June 1992 concerning specific measures for the Azores and Madeira relating to certain agricultural products(2) (Poseima programme).

The basic issue is that the Council recognised that, at an overall level, there are two production systems for male bovine animals and that in the case of steers it was appropriate to make two successive payments. As regards production of bulls, on the other hand, as long ago as 1996 the Council pointed out that the granting of a second instalment of premium had led to the production of particularly heavy animals and that therefore this needed to be rectified by abolishing the second payment, while allowing a period of transition for adaptation in the case of bulls produced in regions of traditional extensive production. This transitional period ended in 1999.

However, if the national authorities consider that the production of bulls specifically in the Azores deserves special support, then Council Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 of 17 May 1999 on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal(3) already provides for a flexible framework of Community payments to be introduced by the Member States concerned.

Finally, the 5th recital to Regulation (EC) No 1254/99 merely recalls this situation without suggesting that Community livestock-farming should be influenced in one direction or the other.

(1) OJ C 303 E, 24.10.2000, p. 134.

(2) OJ L 173, 27.6.1992.

(3) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999.