WRITTEN QUESTION E-2214/99

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) and Sergio Berlato (UEN) to the Commission

(29 November 1999)

Subject: Oilseed sector and the Millennium Round

It is common knowledge that the outcome of the compromise reached over Agenda 2000 at the European Council meeting in Berlin was unsatisfactory for the oilseed sector. This sector deserved greater attention, to protect it from international and particularly American competition. It is a sector which in Italy alone accounts for some 90 000 firms. The agreement reached at the last meeting of the Council of Ministers for Agriculture over the EU document to be presented at the forthcoming WTO negotiations in Seattle places special emphasis on the multifunctional character of the current European agricultural model.

1. Can the Commission explain why Europe has completely sacrificed its oilseed sector?

2. Can it confirm the news that the US is about to launch an emergency plan with a view to granting extraordinary aid to US farmers (to the tune of 9-10 billion dollars, according to the press) to compensate for the drop in world prices of agricultural primary products?

3. Can it say whether, under the Fair Act introduced as part of US agricultural policy, oilseed support has exceeded 1992 levels?

4. What, if any, action does it intend take to prevent this strategic sector from being overwhelmed by crises such as those which have stricken the rice-growing sector?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(11 January 2000)

The provisions adopted in the oilseeds sector in connection with the Agenda 2000 package are to some extent already covered in the Answer given by the Commission to the Honourable Member's Written Question No E-3652/98 on the proposals concerned(1), in particular where it deals with the alignment of area aid for cereals, oilseeds and set-aside on a single amount, namely 63 per tonne of cereals, such tonnage being based on historical regional yields. The Council has endorsed this approach, leaving the road clear for the lifting of the Blair House constraints on oilseed production, but has decided that it should be implemented in stages, a decision which in essence does not affect the answer given earlier by the Commission.

With regard more specifically to points 1 and 4, the Commission would draw the attention of the Honourable Member to the provisions relating to the transitional period for aid for oilseeds, provisions which are set out in Article 10 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1251/1999 of 17 May 1999 establishing a support system for producers of certain arable crops(2). The Commission will present a report on developments on the oilseed market and may put forward proposals at that stage if there is a serious reduction in the production potential.

On points 2 and 3, the Commission feels that, partly as a result of US farm policy on soya, downward pressure has been brought to bear on world prices which is likely to disrupt markets in agricultural raw materials. When examining whether, as a result of that policy, the support granted by the United States for that crop in 1992 has been exceeded, account should be taken of Article 13 of the Agreement on Agriculture, otherwise known as the Peace Clause, which limits the scope for action against farm subsidies. Generally speaking, scrutiny of the conformity of that policy falls entirely within the scope of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

(1) OJ C 325, 12.11.1999.

(2) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999.