WRITTEN QUESTION E-1696/00 by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Classification of strawberries and the Swedish climate.
Date: 2000-05-29
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Sweden, marketing standard, quality control of agricultural products, soft fruit

13.3.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 81 E/73

In relation to Mr. van Buitenen(cid:146)s book, assistance under Article 24 has, to date, been requested only once.
It was granted after consideration of the fact that a pseudonym used in the book was identical to the name
of an official. In this case, Mr van Buitenen officially presented his apologies to the official concerned.

(2001/C 81 E/088)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1696/00

by Jonas Sj(cid:246)stedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

Subject: Classification of strawberries and the Swedish climate

(29 May 2000)

Has the Commission adjusted the classification of strawberries to take account of the Swedish climate?
Swedish strawberries are smaller but sweeter than the strawberries grown further south in Europe because
of the climate. Since Sweden(cid:146)s entry into the EU, part of the country(cid:146)s strawberry crop has had to be set
aside and turned into purØe as they do not, in terms of size, fall within the four classes into which
strawberries have been divided. Has the Commission taken account of
this Scandinavian aspect of
strawberry production in the relevant legislation?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(10 July 2000)

One of the purposes of marketing standards is to withdraw from the market products which consumers
would find of unsatisfactory quality. One of the instruments used is the establishment of minimum sizes,
which permits the withdrawal of fruit which is insufficiently developed or mature. The minimum size for
strawberries, based on recognised international standards, was set at 22 millimetres (mm).

It appears that fruit of two varieties (Primella and Gariguette) could be of satisfactory quality even though
smaller than 22 mm. Accordingly, the Commission has decided to reduce the minimum size for these two
varieties to 18 mm.

The Commission has no information on other varieties of strawberries, cultivated in Sweden or elsewhere
in the Community, whose fruit reaches a satisfactory level of development or maturity despite being
smaller than 22 mm.

(2001/C 81 E/089)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1697/00

by Jonas Sj(cid:246)stedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(29 May 2000)

Subject: Future of drugs observatory EMCDDA

The drugs observatory EMCDDA in Lisbon has now been operating since 1993. It still does not produce
any comparable statistics for the drugs situation and drug-abuse trends in the Member States. Should the
EMCDDA project not be considered a failure and the observatory abandoned since the Member States are
best equipped to deal with these issues at national level?

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(26 July 2000)

The European monitoring centre for drugs and drug addiction (EMCDDA) became operational
in the
beginning of 1995. According to the founding Regulation the main task of the Centre is to (cid:145)provide the
Community and its Member States with objective, reliable and comparable information at European level