WRITTEN QUESTION E-1415/96 by Nikitas Kaklamanis (UPE) to the Commission (6 June 1996)

Subject: Revision of the COM in fruit and vegetables

The authoritative Greek newspaper 'Ikonomikos Takhidromos' published reports about a revision of the common organization of the market in fresh and processed fruit and vegetables. According to the reports, Greece will be the only country in which implementation of the revision in the fruit and vegetable sector will have a catastrophic impact not only on that sector but also on related sectors and activities.

The report also states that in its draft revision of the common organization of the market, the Commission is proposing - by way of an exception to all other revisions proposed hitherto - heavy sacrifices and obligations for producers and Member States, even though it is well known that the Community fruit and vegetable sector represents 16% of European agricultural production but receives only 4% of the EAGGF.

Bearing the above in mind:

1. Will the Commission apply to this revision the same rules and principles that it has applied to the other COMs revised since 1992?

2. Has the Commission presented, together with the draft revision, a well-documented study of the effects in each Member State separately?

3. Will there be a specific programme of restructuring geared to new or existing varietal products in demand on the international market so as to safeguard the areas uprooted?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (1 July 1996)

1. The objective of the reform in the fruit and vegetables sector is to help the sector improve its competitiveness and take account of environmental concerns. In order to attain this objective, the Commission proposal provides for redirecting budgetary expenditure towards positive measures, such as better grouping of supply, substantial support for certain activities conducted by producers' organizations, a new way of administering short-term surpluses and the elimination of structural surpluses, and also specific measures if the other measures prove inadequate. ((OJ C 52, 21.2.1996; amended proposal, COM(96) 177 final. ))

The Commission considers that its proposal follows the pattern set by previous reforms. The practical steps proposed take account of the specific features of the sector.

2. This proposal constitutes a follow-up to a communication presented by the Commission to the Council and Parliament in July 1994 on the development and future of Community policy in the fruit and vegetables sector. ((COM(94) 360 final. )) In this communication the weaknesses of the present system and the impasse they have created throughout the sector were described and guidelines were set out for the future with the aim of making the sector sufficiently dynamic to face increasing international competition. The communication formed the subject of lengthy, very wide-ranging discussions within the Council, Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and all the trade bodies concerned. Parliament delivered a clearly positive opinion on it in February 1995. It is on the basis of this communication, and in the light of the discussions which it prompted, that the Commission drew up its proposal for reforming the common organization of the market in fruit and vegetables, on which Parliament delivered a favourable opinion in April.

3. Following implementation of this reform, it will be for producers' organizations to present programmes comprising the operations (such as conversion or restructuring) needed to make their members' production more competitive or to bring it more closely into line with market requirements.