WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1381/96 by Jesús CABEZÓN ALONSO , Juan COLINO SALAMANCA to the Commission. Spanish fruit destroyed by French farmers
Date: 1996-06-06
Institutions: CABEZON ALONSO, COLINO SALAMANCA, European Parliament
Subjects: France, Spain, carriage of goods, carrier, competition, free movement of goods, fresh fruit, fresh vegetable, producer organisation













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91996E1381

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1381/96 by Jesús CABEZÓN ALONSO , Juan COLINO SALAMANCA to the Commission. Spanish fruit destroyed by French farmers  


Official Journal C 356 , 25/11/1996 P. 0022 





WRITTEN QUESTION E-1381/96 by Jesús Cabezón Alonso (PSE) and Juan Colino Salamanca (PSE) to the Commission (6 June 1996)Subject: Spanish fruit destroyed by French farmersIn the final days of May this year, groups of French farmers again attacked European lorries transporting Spanish fruit in transit for European Union countries. They also destroyed Spanish fruit already in French markets.What action has the Commission taken to prevent any recurrence of these extremely serious incidents?Joint answer to Written Questions E-1254/96, E-1268/96 and E-1381/96 given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (27 June 1996)The Commission has already, on a number of occasions, stated its views on the systematic acts of violence perpetrated by various French producer groups or organizations against consignments of fruit and vegetables from Spain and the obligation of Member States in that connection to maintain public order, with particular reference to the right of free movement of goods.As it said in its answer to written question 1818/94 from Mr Colino Salamanca, ((OJ C 24, 30 January 1995, p. 30. )) under Community law Member State authorities are required to take the measures necessary to prevent acts which undermine the effective operation of the internal market and the free movement of goods. Failure to comply with this duty constitutes a breach of a Member State's obligation under Article 30 and the common organization of the market, in conjunction with Article 5 of the EC Treaty.Since the French authorities have been unable to show unequivocally that the police took adequate and appropriate action to counter this quite unacceptable impediment to the free movement of goods, the Commission initiated infringement proceedings under Article 169 of the Treaty and ultimately, on 4 August 1995, referred the matter to the Court of Justice. ((Case C-265/95. ))Following the recent recurrence of these violent attacks on the free movement of goods the Commission reminded the French authorities of their obligations under Articles 5 and 30 of the EC Treaty, and it will be drawing the Court's attention to the persistent repetition of the offence.The Commission does not believe the reform of the common organization of the market will extend the strawberry problem to other sectors, on the contrary, it should help and encourage Community producers to meet the challenges ahead and become more competitive and capable of adapting to a changing market.Agreements and contacts between producers in different Member States should also play an important part in organizing the marketing of Community produce. Accordingly, as an incentive to promote operational measures by groups of Member States, the threshold for official financing of the operational funds provided for in the reformed common organization of the market is to be raised to 60%.