WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2293/97 by Konstantinos HATZIDAKIS to the Commission. Reduction in the amount of the Community premium for sheep and goats in Greece
Date: 1997-06-26
Institutions: European Parliament, HATZIDAKIS
Subjects: EU aid, Greece, agricultural guidance, goatmeat, market prices, price increase, production aid, sheepmeat, slaughter premium

C 60/120

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

25. 2. 98

(98/C 60/202)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2293/97

by Konstantinos Hatzidakis (PPE) to the Commission

(26 June 1997)

Subject: Reduction in the amount of the Community premium for sheep and goats in Greece

In the Commission(cid:146)s reply to my Written Question P-1783/97 (1) on (cid:145)lower Community premiums for goats and
sheep(cid:146) there is evidently a misunderstanding as regards the facts on which my question was based. I was not
referring to an increase in the slaughter costs for goats and sheep but to an increase in the selling price of goat and
sheep meat on the European market. On the basis of that clarification and bearing in mind that the Commission
accepts that there has been an appreciable overall price rise in the Community market, without saying exactly
what is happening on the national, regional and local markets, particularly in Greece, I again ask the Commission
to tell me on which data › how they were gathered and from which sources? › it based its finding that there was
an appreciable rise in the price of goat and sheep meat even in Greece › and if so by how much? › and that the
rise was such as to justify a large reduction in the premium? Finally, given the enormous difficulties which that
decision creates for producers, is there any possibility of exemptions for regions where there has demonstrably
not been an increase in the slaughter price for goat and sheep meat, or at least for regions which are generally
problematic, such as island regions, where transport costs and production costs generally are much higher?

(1)  OJ C 45, 10.2.1998, p. 102.

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(22 July 1997)

The Commission has determined for each Member State a list of representative markets that notify it each week
of market prices for a (cid:145)standard quality(cid:146) that is the most representative for the production that is itself the most
representative for trade in the Community as a whole. The list of markets and description of the products the
prices of which are to be notified appear in Regulation (EEC) No 1481/86 of 15 May 1986 on the determination
of prices of fresh or chilled lamb carcases on representative Community markets and the survey of prices of
certain other qualities of sheep carcases in the Community (1), last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2344/96 of
9 December 1996 (2).

For Greece the (cid:145)standard quality(cid:146) is lambs of 12 to 16 kg carcase weight. Prices are recorded at seven locations:
Athens, Ioannina, Serres, Komotini, Larissa, Tripoli and Khania.

In Greece the average price for the (cid:145)standard quality(cid:146) rose from ECU 373.3/100 kg in 1995 to ECU 392.7/100 kg
in 1996, an increase of 5.2%.

The Commission would remind the Honourable Member that under the rules in force in this sector the ewe and
she-goat premium is to be calculated without regard to market price differences in Member States. Since 1992 a
single amount has been set that is calculated from the trend of the Community average market price for (cid:145)standard
qualities(cid:146). The Commission has no plans to propose to the Council any change in these rules to take account of
particular regional price or production cost differences.

(1)  OJ L 130, 16.5.1986.
(2)  OJ L 319, 10.12.1996.

(98/C 60/203)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2294/97

by Nikitas Kaklamanis (UPE) to the Commission

(26 June 1997)

Subject: Turkish infringement of the European Convention on Human Rights and the need for EU response

On  18  December  1996,  the  European  Court  of  Human  Rights  in  Strasbourg  held  in  its  judgment  in
Loizidou v Turkey (40/1993/435/514) that, by denying the applicant access to her property in Kyrenia (occupied
northern part of Cyprus), Turkey has, since 1974, been continuously in breach of Article 1 of the First Protocol of