WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2975/97 by Joaquín SISÓ CRUELLAS to the Commission. COM in sugar
Date: 1997-09-17
Institutions: European Parliament, SISO CRUELLAS
Subjects: aerated drink, beverage industry, common organisation of markets, farm prices, production aid, sales aid, sugar beet, sugar industry, sugar levy

16. 4. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 117/119

As  with  Directive  79/409/EEC,  it  is  the  responsability  of  Member  States  to  implement  measures  and  action
agreed in the framework of such a management plan. With regard to the Atlantic subspecies phalacrocorax carbo
carbo in the United Kingdom the Commission would therefore recommend the Honourable Member to make
contact with the national conservation authorities responsible for this matter.

The Commission is not currently considering proposing the inclusion of the great cormorant phalacrocorax carbo
in  Annex  II  of  the  Birds  Directive.  Such  a  proposal  was  not  requested  by  the  Member  States  during  the
discussions  leading  to  the  recent  amendment  of  the  Directive  to  remove  phalacrocorax  carbo  sinensis  from
Annex  I.  The  Commission  continues  to  recommend  to  the  Member  States  the  appropriate  and  full  use  of
derogations provided for under Article 9 of the Birds Directive.

(1)  As amended, most recently by Directive 97/49/EC of 29.7.1997, OJ L 223, 13.8.1997.

(98/C 117/151)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2975/97

by Joaqu(cid:14)·n Siso· Cruellas (PPE) to the Commission

(17 September 1997)

Subject: COM in sugar

The Union of EC Soft Drinks Associations (Unesda) regrets the fact that the sugar sector has been largely ignored
in considerations regarding the forthcoming reform of the common agricultural policy. In view of the fact that the
common organization of the market in sugar has not changed since 1967, Unesda believes that it needs to be
reformed in such a way as to bring it gradually into line with the market and to ensure that it provides income
support  for  sugar  beet  producers.  It  also  maintains  that  the  production  surpluses  forecast  by  Commission
specialists could be partly absorbed by the soft drinks industry if sugar prices were stabilized at a reasonable
level.

Could the Commission say what it thinks of Unesda(cid:146)s views?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(7 October 1997)

The Commission would remind the Honourable Member that the production and guaranteed price arrangements
in the sugar sector apply by a decision of the Council of 24 April 1995, following consultation of Parliament,
until the end of the 2000/01 marketing year (1).

This is why the sector is not covered by the Agenda 2000 document (2) presented by the Commission, which sees
no need for discussion of the sector at the present time given the deadline for settling its future of 1 January 2001.

Despite  any  claims  to  the  contrary  by  Unesda,  the  market  organisation  has  undergone  several  substantial
adjustments  since  1967.  These  have  been  essentially  concerned  with  financing  the  disposal  of  exportable
Community production through production levies paid by producers (i.e. growers and beet sugar refiners). This
self-financing,  which  originally  affected  only  B  quota  production  over  the  quota  application  period,  was
extended to A quota production and then became a full self-financing requirement for each marketing year. This
means that the Community’s annual budget meets none of the costs of disposing of Community production in this
sector, which would not be the case if aid for beet production was granted as envisaged by UNESDA. In the
Commission’s opinion such an approach would not at the moment be suitable for the sector.

(1)  Council Regulation (EC) No 1101/95 of 24 April 1995 amending Regulation (EEC) No 1785/81 on the common organisation of the market
in the sugar sector and Regulation (EEC) No 1010/86 laying down general rules for the production refund on certain sugar products used in
the chemical industry: OJ L 110, 17.5.1995.

(2)  COM(97) 2000.