EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 65/133

(2004/C 65 E/148)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2327/03

by Konstantinos Hatzidakis (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(16 July 2003)

Subject: System for paying compensation for mountainous and disadvantaged regions in Greece

It has been reported that, as part of the payment of compensation for mountainous and disadvantaged regions in Greece, a system for measuring agricultural land has been adopted which fails to take into account the structure of the terrain. Farmers and stockbreeders consider that the system in question is unfair to them, since it ignores hillocks and depressions, so that the overall area registered is substantially smaller than it should be.

Will the Commission give its views on this matter and say whether this system was adopted on its own initiative or on that of the Greek government?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(18 September 2003)

The question referred to above concerns the system used for measuring agricultural land for the payment of compensation for mountainous and disadvantaged regions in Greece which, failing to consider the topological structure of the terrain, seems to penalise farmers and stockbreeders whose parcels present hillocks and depressions, not taken into account in the measurement of the area.

In the first place, it should be noted that the issue of area measurement does not relate alone to the compensatory allowances for less-favoured areas, but more generally to all kinds of Community grants paid on the basis of surfaces of agricultural land. In fact, the control system required for the determination of the areas eligible for aid under the Common Agricultural Policy is based on an Integrated Administrative and Control System (IACS) — and, in particular, a Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) — which, under Community legislation, all Member States are required to have in place.

Under the specific Regulations relating to the IACS (Council Regulation (EEC) No 3508/1992 of 27 November 1992 establishing an integrated administration and control system for certain Community aid schemes (1) and Commission Regulation (EC) No 2419/2001 of 11 December 2001 laying down detailed rules for applying the integrated administration and control system for certain Community aid schemes established by Council Regulation (EEC) No 3508/92 (2)), Member States are required to measure land parcels. Article 22(1) of Regulation 2419/2001 relating to the IACS provides that:

Agricultural parcel areas shall be determined by any appropriate means defined by the competent authority which ensure measurement of a precision at least equivalent to that required for official measurements under the national rules. The competent authority shall set a tolerance margin taking account of the measuring method used, the accuracy of the official documents available, local factors such as slope and shape of parcel and the provisions of paragraph 2.

Nevertheless, the position of the Commission in this respect is to use a projected area system for the measurement of parcels, which, indeed, does not take into account slopes. This principle has been discussed since 1993 in expert groups and formulated since in different documents. Therefore, the working document which gives guidance for on-the-spot checks on areas — doc. VI/8388/94 rev. 6, replaced by doc. AGRI/2254/2003 as from 16 May 2003 — states in Chapter 2 that:

The area measured will be expressed as the area projected in the national system used for the IACS/LPIS.

However, although the method of the projected area does not take account of hillocks and depressions, the general slope enters into consideration for the definition of the area eligible for certain aid schemes or for the determination of different rates of payment per hectare (e.g. according to ‘slope classes’).

In this context, it should be noted that the Rural Development measure Compensatory Allowances for less-favoured areas is an aid introduced in order to compensate farmers for certain disadvantages presented by determined regions, taking into account for instance that the land involved may be in hilly or mountainous areas.

As regards the second question presented by the Honourable Member to the Commission, it should be underlined that the definition of mountainous and other less favoured areas in Greece is exclusively based on parameters chosen by initiative of the Greek Government, taking into account the conditions defined by Chapter V of 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).

(1) OJ L 355, 5.12.1992.

(2) OJ L 327, 12.12.2001.

(3) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999.