WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1411/96 by Georges BERTHU to the Council. Free trade areas
Date: 1996-05-28
Institutions: BERTHU, European Parliament
Subjects: Italy, exchange of information, free-trade area, ministerial meeting













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91996E1411

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1411/96 by Georges BERTHU to the Council. Free trade areas  


Official Journal C 356 , 25/11/1996 P. 0038 





WRITTEN QUESTION P-1411/96 by Georges Berthu (EDN) to the Council (28 May 1996)Subject: Free trade areasAt the working meeting of the EU agriculture ministers on 7 May 1996 in Otranto (Italy), the President-in-Office of the Council presented a document that set out the risks of a proliferation of free trade areas and, according to press reports, pointed out that this policy completely ignores the impact on the sectors concerned or else assumes that whole sectors of production can survive the shock of opening up the markets.1. Does the Council intend to make this document public and make it available to all MEPs, especially members of the Committee on Agriculture and the REX Committee?2. Does the Council think it would be useful to commission an impartial and broad-based study on the full consequences of the Community's free-trade policy? (The Commission would not be responsible for carrying out or commissioning this study or for signing the contracts.)3. Does the Council intend to return the Commission to a role that is strictly confined to applying the policies laid down by the Council? Could it not use the opportunity of the IGC to remove the ambiguities of Articles 113 and 228 concerning the Commission's degree of autonomy in this connection, especially by increasing the transparency of international trade negotiations and by making it clear that the Commission has no prior right to commit the Community by signature de facto or de jure?Reply (14 October 1996)The Ministers for Agriculture of the Member States of the European Union and the Commissioner with responsibility for agriculture customarily meet once every six months in the country holding the Presidency, at the Presidency's invitation, to discuss informally topics of general interst which might later result in formal acts, to be drawn up under the institutional procedures laid down by the Treaty.This was the case with the informal meeting on 7 May 1996 in Otranto, where the Presidency suggested as a discussion topic the establishment of free-trade areas and their impact on Community agriculture and presented a working paper by way of introduction.With particular regard to the Honourable Member's three questions, the following points should be made:re 1: Given the informal nature of the meeting, the Presidency working paper has no official status and is intended only for those attending the meeting.re 2: It is for the Commission, before drawing up proposals, to take the necessary steps (studies, seminars, consultation of specialists, etc.) to provide itself with information and data on the basis of which to frame its proposals.re 3: Questions of institutional adjustments to the system laid down by the existing Treaties are being discussed at the Intergovernmental Conference currently under way, in which the Council has no part.