Resolution on vegetable protein supplies and the situation in the European starch industry
Date: 1999-04-16
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: production refund, starch, vegetable protein

C 219/510

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

30.7.1999

Friday 16 April 1999

26.
Calls on the social partners at national and European level to work closely with other organisations
representing  older  people  in  defending  their  rights  in  society  and  in  ensuring  that  they  are  actively
involved in the political process;

27.
Calls on NGOs representing older people at regional, national and European level to coordinate
their activities and to develop an information network, coordinated by the European Union, on issues and
policies affecting older people throughout Europe;

Calls  on  the  Commission  and  the  Member  States  to  support  the  associations  representing  the

28.
interests of older people and to help them promote a realistic and positive image;

29.

Requests the Commission to bring forward its Communication on Ageing in the first half of 1999;

Instructs  its  President  to  forward  this  resolution  to  the  Council,  the  Commission,  the  European

30.
social partners, the participants at the Senior Citizens Conference and the United Nations.

3.  Starch

B4-0353, 0354, 0355, 0360 and 0423/99

Resolution on vegetable protein supplies and the situation in the European starch industry

The European Parliament,

A.  whereas the European Union continues to suffer from a shortfall in the area of vegetable proteins and

is dependent on imports from third countries,

B.  whereas the CAP reforms agreed at the Berlin European Council meeting have created some scope for
encouraging  non-food  agricultural  production;  whereas,  nonetheless,  the  decisions  of  the  Berlin
Summit on oil seeds could have negative consequences regarding the EU deficit in the oil seed sector,

C.  whereas, in the starch sector, there is a delicate balance between starch produced from potatoes, on the

one hand, and from cereals, on the other,

1.
Calls on the Commission to maintain the current system of refunds for the use of cereal derivatives
(starch) and sugar and to produce a report assessing the impact on the sector of the reform of the CAP;

2.
Calls  on  the  Commission  to  propose  a  more  incentive-based  policy  for  the  non-food  agricultural
production sector, in particular as regards the use of set-aside land for protein seed and protein-rich fodder
crops, and emphasises that possible changes in starch regimes must be sectorally balanced and neutral in
terms of their budget impact;

3.
Calls  on  the  Commission  to  ensure  that  the  different  conditions  of  production  of  each  non-
manufactured  agricultural  product  are  taken  into  consideration,  including  in  particular  cereals  and
potatoes, so as to avoid distortions of competition between those products;

4.
Believes that there is an urgent need to define a robust negotiating strategy for the forthcoming round
of WTO negotiations; calls for the removal of the restrictions in the oilseed crop sector imposed on the
Union by the Blair House agreement;

Instructs  its  President  to  forward  this  resolution  to  the  Council,  the  Commission  and  the

5.
governments of the Member States.