WRITTEN QUESTION E-1766/99 by António Campos (PSE) to the Commission. The common agricultural policy.
Date: 1999-10-11
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EAGGF Guarantee Section, agricultural expenditure, agricultural statistics, aid recipient, farmer

C 303 E/14

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

24.10.2000

concerned,
approved proposal is then registered by the Accounting Officer.

if necessary including the Legal Service. In the case of direct expenditure or revenue, an

The Commission will continue to ensure strict compliance with its internal rules, without prejudice to the
considerations on administrative reform which it has begun.

(2000/C 303 E/011)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1766/99

by Ant(cid:243)nio Campos (PSE) to the Commission

(11 October 1999)

Subject: The common agricultural policy

In his investiture speech,
concerning the use of Union funds, as well as full cooperation with Parliament.

the Commission undertook to ensure full

the President of

transparency

In the interests of the promised transparency and cooperation, can the Commission provide information
on the following:

1.

2.

3.

4.

the level of total annual expenditure under the EAGGF (Guarantee), together with a list of the hundred
biggest beneficiaries in each Member State;

the percentage of total EAGGF (Guarantee) payments to each Member State corresponding to those
hundred beneficiaries;

the number of farmers benefiting from EAGGF (Guarantee) support in each Member State;

the total number of farmers in each Member State.

Supplementary answer
given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(16 December 1999)

The breakdown, by Member State, of European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (Guarantee
Section) expenditure for the 1998 financial year (cid:129) the latest year for which figures are available (cid:129) is:

Member State

EAGGF expenditure

(million euro)

Belgium
Denmark
Germany
Greece
Spain
France
Ireland
Italy
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Austria
Portugal
Finland
Sweden
United Kingdom

European Union (direct expendi-
ture)

851,3
1 154,0
5 553,0
2 556,8
5 293,5
9 007,2
1 632,6
4 129,2
17,4
1 372,7
842,5
637,4
575,7
770,1
4 314,2

40,3

Total

38 748,1

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 303 E/15

For further particulars, the Honourable Member should please refer to the 28th Financial Report on the
EAGGF Guarantee Section (1) (which contains detailed information about the 1998 financial year).

The Commission nevertheless wishes to draw the Honourable Member(cid:146)s attention to the fact that the legal
system which governs the charging of Community agricultural aid to the Community budget and, more
specifically, to the EAGGF Guarantee Section (Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 of the Council of 21 April 1970
on the financing of the common agricultural policy (2) and Commission Regulation (EC) No 296/96 of
16 February 1996 on data to be forwarded by the Member States and the monthly booking of expenditure
financed under the Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF)
and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 2776/88 (3)) provides for extensive delegation of tasks to the paying
agencies in the Member States.
It is therefore the paying agencies (accredited by Member States in
accordance with Commission Regulation (EC) No 1663/95 of 7 July 1995 laying down detailed rules for
the application of Council Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 regarding the procedure for the clearance of the
accounts of the EAGGF Guarantee Section (4)) which undertake direct management of agricultural aid
requests and which, consequently, hold all the information on recipients.

The Commission, on the other hand, does not have the information requested by the Honourable Member.
For monitoring purposes, it receives from Member States the accounting data specifically stipulated in the
rules. While it would be possible to process those data in order to show individual aid recipients, the
Community rules on personal data protection (which, by virtue of Article 286 (formerly Article 213b) of
the EC Treaty, are binding on the Community institutions) would not permit the Commission to disclose
that information.

The Commission knows how many requests for assistance are submitted in each agricultural sector (which
does not necessarily correspond to the number of farmers receiving Community aid, since a given farmer
may ask for support from several aid schemes available under the common agricultural policy).

The Honourable Member should refer to the 28th Financial Report for the information requested on this
point.

Lastly, according to the Commission(cid:146)s figures, the Community(cid:146)s agricultural sector (comprising agriculture,
forestry, hunting and fisheries) employs 7,434 million people:

Member State

Agricultural sector jobs

(in 1 000)

Belgium
Denmark
Germany
Greece
Spain
France
Ireland
Italy
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Austria
Portugal
Finland
Sweden
United Kingdom

102
100
1 039
765
1 055
1 029
149
1 307
4
251
249
601
164
127
493

7 434

Total

(1) COM(1999) 568 final.
(2) OJ L 94, 28.4.1970.
(3) OJ L 39, 17.2.1996.
(4) OJ L 158, 8.7.1995.