WRITTEN QUESTION No. 833/97 by Giuseppe RAUTI to the Commission. Disparity between Italian and German milk quotas
Date: 1997-03-10
Institutions: European Parliament, RAUTI
Subjects: Germany, Italy, dairy production, economic disparity, production quota, regulation of agricultural production













EUR-Lex - 91997E0833 - EN






Avis juridique important




|



91997E0833

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 833/97 by Giuseppe RAUTI to the Commission. Disparity between Italian and German milk quotas  


Official Journal C 367 , 04/12/1997 P. 0042 





WRITTEN QUESTION E-0833/97 by Giuseppe Rauti (NI) to the Commission (10 March 1997)Subject: Disparity between Italian and German milk quotasWill the Commission state its reasons for allocating Italy a milk quota which puts it at a serious disadvantage against the other EU nations, while the justifiable discontent of tens of thousands of farmers and producers in Italy continues to rise?It should be emphasized that, for example, Italy is placed at a serious disadvantage compared to Germany:- Italy imports 40% of its milk consumption, amounting to some 7.1 million tonnes of milk;- back in 1992, Germany produced 24.2 million tonnes of milk which was not only enough to cover its own needs but left a surplus of approximately 10 million tonnes, an amount which exceeded Italy's entire quota (9.9 million tonnes);- Italy's quota equals 60% of national consumption;- Germany's quota (after reunification) was set at 28.5 million tonnes which is more than double its milk consumption!These details were given in the Corriere della Sera on 15 February 1997 by Andrea Belloli, an expert in the field and chairman of the regional association of Lombardy farmers. Will the Commission say how and why this absurd situation, which is so beneficial to Germany and so harmful to Italy - which is, moreover, losing Lit thousands of billions to the European Union - arose?Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (8 April 1997)The Commission does not share the opinion of the Honourable Member. The overall guaranteed quantities per Member State were fixed in 1984 on the basis of the quantities produced in 1981, in the case of Italy and Ireland, for which 1983 was taken as the reference year, which was to their advantage. Moreover, the Council decided in 1993 to allocate an additional 900 000 tonnes to Italy. Since then, individual quantities have been allocated to Italian producers by taking the 1988/89 milk year as the reference year, corrected by deliveries made during the 1991/92 marketing year where these were higher. Because of the rise in yield this has resulted in a considerable advantage to Italian milk producers compared to producers in the other Member States.The allocation of the reference quantities to each Member State was carried out on the basis of past production. This method enabled the Council to arrive at a compromise without having to deal with other aspects of the dairy economy in each Member State, particularly consumption levels.The application of this method has led to several Member States having quotas lower than their consumption needs. This is the case for Italy, but also for Spain, Greece and the United Kingdom.