WRITTEN QUESTION E-2780/99 by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Price support measures for juicing oranges in Greece.
Date: 2000-01-18
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Greece, citrus fruit, common agricultural policy, threshold price

3.10.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 280 E/127

(2000/C 280 E/136)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2780/99

by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(18 January 2000)

Subject: Price support measures for juicing oranges in Greece

Aid for juicing oranges has been reduced by 30 % because of the overshooting of the current processing
threshold of 1 189 000 tonnes, set by the Commission for the 1999-2000 period, and it is expected that
this reduction will
incomes, since the prices fixed do not cover
production costs, while in contracts which have been signed with the processors the trade price is also
unusually low.

lead to a further drop in producers(cid:146)

The 1 189 000-tonne threshold set for the imposition of penalties on orange production was calculated on
the basis of years during which unusually low commercial quantities were produced, due to various
circumstances, and it clearly does not correspond to actual production levels, as Parliament acknowledged
in its sitting on 14 April 1999, when it suggested the threshold should be set at 1 665 000 tonnes. Does
the Commission therefore intend to set a higher ceiling for processing oranges in order to reduce penalties
and, primarily, to protect producers(cid:146) incomes?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(15 February 2000)

Citrus growers must derive their income from selling their fruit on both the fresh and the processing
markets. The processing aid is complementary to that income.

The threshold for oranges set by the Council was calculated using the quantities processed in the past with
Community aid.

Council Regulation (EC) No 2202/96 of 28 October 1996 introducing a Community aid scheme for
producers of certain citrus fruits (1) requires the Commission to submit a report on application of the
processed citrus scheme to the Council accompanied by any appropriate proposals. It is in the context of
this report that the Commission will examine the threshold level for oranges.

(1) OJ L 297, 21.11.1996.

(2000/C 280 E/137)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2781/99

by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(18 January 2000)

Subject: Support measures for the marketing of oranges in Greece

It is expected that the large increase in orange production anticipated this year in Greece will create
additional problems in finding market outlets for the product. The difficulty in exporting to central and
eastern European countries, because of the bureaucratic and economic problems in certain countries and
is aggravating the market
also because of the destruction of key roads due to the Yugoslavian war,
problem with the result that producers(cid:146) incomes are in danger of falling dramatically.

What measures does the Commission intend to take (subsidising transport costs, increasing the quantities
supplied as food aid, particularly in the Balkans, etc.) in order to facilitate the disposal of produce?