WRITTEN QUESTION P-3038/00 by Luís Queiró (UEN) to the Commission. Over-production of milk in the Community.
Date: 2000-09-20
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Azores, EU production, agricultural quota, agricultural surplus, dairy production, economic and social cohesion, producer co-responsibility

C 136 E/166

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

8.5.2001

(2001/C 136 E/193)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3034/00

by Ioannis Souladakis (PSE) to the Commission

(20 September 2000)

Subject: EU-Turkey Partnership Agreement

At the Helsinki Summit it was decided that Turkey was a candidate for accession to the EU subject to
certain specific and expressly defined conditions.

The Commission is obviously concerned to ensure that summit decisions are implemented precisely, and
that the fundamental principles underpinning the outlook of European peoples and their governments are
fully observed. However, the violent reaction of a section of the Turkish press to the talks held by the
Commission delegation last July in Ankara creates the impression that certain parties may be attempting to
exclude from the draft of the Turkey-EU partnership agreement explicit references to the conditions
relating to Turkey(cid:146)s candidate status.

What steps will the Commission take to ensure that the conditions which the Helsinki Summit attached to
Turkey(cid:146)s status as a candidate for accession, namely a settlement of the Cyprus problem, an improvement
in the human rights situation, resolution of the Kurdish problem, Turkish claims in the Aegean and their
settlement by the International Court in The Hague, the democratisation of the political system, together
with the other Helsinki political criteria (cid:129) are incorporated in the main body of the text and not the
preamble of the prospective partnership agreement?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(10 October 2000)

The Commission is closely monitoring the developments in Turkey in relation to the political criteria of
Copenhagen. It will present its results in the regular report for Turkey and in the accession partnership for
Turkey to be adopted on 8 November 2000.

The developments on human rights, the Cyprus issue and other related issues are subject to regular
political dialogue between the Union and Turkey.

(2001/C 136 E/194)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3038/00

by Lu(cid:237)s Queir(cid:243) (UEN) to the Commission

(20 September 2000)

Subject: Over-production of milk in the Community

According to the information available, Community milk production has risen sharply in the last market-
ing year (1999/2000).

As a result of this increase in milk production, twelve out of the fifteen Member States have exceeded the
national milk quotas assigned to them.

The increase is undoubtedly due in part to a number of factors related to the consumption trend regarding
dairy products and productivity gains in the sector.

Will the Commission work out an overall solution with the countries concerned in order fully to allow for
likely production increases in subsequent marketing years, or will it seek to punish the producers?

Specifically as far as Portugal
is concerned, the only group who would suffer if penalties were to be
imposed would be producers in one of the more outlying regions, the Azores. The social consequences
and economic repercussions would be extremely serious, given that there are a great many producers and
milk and dairy production occupies a key place in Azorean society.

8.5.2001

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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Furthermore, the Azores, like the other outermost regions, are covered by Article 299 (formerly Article
227) of the EC Treaty, which stipulates that the Council, acting on a proposal from the Commission after
consulting the European Parliament, may adopt specific measures to take account of the economic and
social situation in these regions resulting from their remoteness or the fact that they are islands.

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(27 October 2000)

According to the information currently received from the Member States, milk production during the
marketing year 1999/2000 will be slightly lower than in 1998/99 but 12 Member States out of 15 will
have exceeded their reference quantity. This is the only official information although statistical cross-checks
by the Commission suggest
that actual production and overshooting are slightly greater than the
provisional data suggest.

Under Council Regulation (EEC) No 3950/92 establishing an additional levy in the milk and milk products
sector (1), an (cid:145)additional levy(cid:146) is automatically due from all the producers who have overshot their quotas
when deliveries in a given year exceed the national reference quantities ((cid:145)quotas(cid:146)). However, unutilised
quotas may be redistributed to other producers and these are deducted from the amounts by which
individuals have overshot.

The Council introduced these quotas in 1984 and adjusted them most recently under (cid:145)Agenda 2000(cid:146) for
the period until 2008, with a view to bringing Community milk deliveries back to a level close to normal
use, and then keeping them there. The Commission does not have the power to derogate from the current
additional levy and does not intend to propose to the Council penalties in addition to the levies or an
adjustment of the quotas to the volume of production recorded.

In the case of Portugal, the Commission considers that the fact that a substantial surplus arose there and
that producers in the Azores are chiefly responsible for the levy is primarily the result of an accumulation
of errors by the national and regional administrations and by operators, who did not analyse in good time
the constant steady increase in Portuguese production or set up a system ensuring uniform redistribution
of the unutilised individual quotas.

Discussions are in hand between the Portuguese authorities and the Commission, inter alia under Article
299(2) (formerly Article 227) of the EC Treaty, but they have not yet been concluded.

(1) OJ L 405, 31.12.1992.

(2001/C 136 E/195)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3043/00

by JosØ Gil-Robles Gil-Delgado (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(28 September 2000)

Subject: Import of exotic birds

A recent report prepared by the Eurogroup for Animal Welfare and the Dutch Animal Welfare Society
clearly shows that the EU is facing a potentially damaging major health risk from the import of exotic
birds and mammals for the pet trade. This is based on facts provided by the Chief Veterinary Officers in 10
of the Member States.

Does the Commission agree that there is a risk of a major outbreak of (for example) Newcastle Disease and
will it therefore give urgent consideration to the sensible recommendations set out in the report?