WRITTEN QUESTION E-2124/00

by Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(30 June 2000)

Subject: CAP funding statistics

Taking into account:

- the period from 1994 to 1999 and the amounts earmarked in the budget for the common agricultural policy under the EAGGF Guarantee and Guidance Sections;

- the 1992 reform of the CAP, which prompted the Commission to state that CAP aid was highly concentrated, to the extent that 20 % of farmers were receiving 80 % of the aid;

- the most recent reports on cohesion, in which the Commission has used the expression net contributor for the purposes of the CAP, specifically with reference to Portugal;

Could the Commission indicate:

1. the combined aggregate amounts of expenditure under the EAGGF Guarantee and Guidance Sections actually implemented in the period from 1994 to 1999, also broken down by product and Member State;

2. the degree of concentration of the aid currently provided at European level, specifying the percentages of aid granted to the 5 % of farmers who receive most support in each individual Member State;

3. the final balance for each Member State for every year from 1994 to 1999, showing the contributions paid and amounts received under the CAP?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(7 September 2000)

1. Expenditure booked to the European Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) Guarantee Section is set out in Tables 1-6 by Chapter and Member State and the commitment appropriations for the EAGGF Guidance Section, broken down by year and Member State, are set out in Tables 7-14; all of which are being sent direct to the Honourable Member and to Parliament's Secretariat.

The Honourable Member is asked to refer to the EAGGF financial reports for further information.

2. The Honourable Member is asked to refer to the Commission's answer to Mr Campos's written question E-1766/99(1). The Commission would like to draw the Honourable Member's attention to the fact that the legal arrangements governing the booking of Community agricultural aid to the Community budget and to the EAGGF Guarantee Section in particular (Council Regulation (EC) No 1258/1999 of 17 May 1999 on the financing of the common agricultural policy(2) and Commission Regulation (EC) No 296/96 of 16 February 1996 on data to be forwarded by the Member States and the monthly booking of expenditure financed under the Guarantee Secion of the Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund(3)) delegate a wide range of tasks to the paying agencies of the Member States.

So it is the paying agencies (approved, moreover, by the Member States under Commission Regulation (EC) No 1663/95 of 7 July 1995 laying down detailed rules for the application of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 regarding the procedure for the clearance of the accounts of the EAGGF Guarantee Section(4) which directly manage applications for agricultural aid and which have, therefore, all the data relating to the beneficiaries.

The Commission, for its part, does not have the data sought by the Honourable Member in its possession. For its control and auditing purposes the Commission receives from the Member States the accounting data specified in detail in the various regulations. These data could be processed in such a way as to identify the individual aid beneficiaries. However, the Community provisions on personal data protection, which apply to the Community institutions under Article 286 (formerly Article 213b) of the EC Treaty, make it impossible for the Commission to release this information.

3. EAGGF Guarantee Section expenditure accounts for only half the general Community budget or thereabouts. This means that a comparison of this expenditure with Member States' contributions will not reveal by how much a Member State is a net receiver or a net contributor. Account must also be taken of the expenditure under other Community instruments.

(1) OJ C 303 E, 24.10.2000, p. 14.

(2) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999.

(3) OJ L 39, 17.2.1996.

(4) OJ L 158, 8.7.1995.