WRITTEN QUESTION E-3190/00 by Brigitte Langenhagen (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Energy costs in horticulture, differing conditions of competition.
Date: 2000-10-12
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: State aid, VAT rate, competition, horticulture, price of energy, tax harmonisation

C 163 E/56

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

6.6.2001

With regard to the suggestion of the Honourable Member to draw up a list of approved inspection bodies,
the Commission will, in view of the deadline of 31 December 2005, review the overall operation of the
regime of Article 11(1) (recognition of equivalency by the Commission) and of Article 11(6) (recognition
of equivalency by Member States). In that context the development of lists of inspection bodies which have
been approved by Member States in the framework of Article 11(6) could be explored. This would
however require that the conditions under which Member States evaluate equivalency are fully harmonised,
which at this stage is not the case.

it

With regard to the inspection of groups of producers in third countries,
is the Member States(cid:146)
responsibility to evaluate, in the framework of Article 11(6), the equivalency of the regimes proposed to
them by the importers, and it is up to the Member State involved to be satisfied that the proposed
inspection system gives adequate guarantees that the production rules are effectively satisfied. In the
Community every producer is inspected once a year, as a minimum, and it is known that certain producers
in the Community, who apply the organic farming production rules, have no access to organic labelling
because, for financial or other reasons, they have not submitted their holding to the inspection system. In
that context it seems fully reasonable that also in third countries all producers wishing to be considered as
organic, with the advantages that confers, be submitted to a similar requirement and be thoroughly
inspected. It is known that in third countries, including developing countries, chemical products are in use
in agriculture under conditions which are not acceptable in organic farming and sometimes even not in
European conventional farming. Where however,
in particular cases, it is demonstrated that it is very
unlikely that the organic production rules would not be satisfied and that it is excluded that producers can
have access to prohibited products, the Commission would not oppose the Member State involved
applying some flexibility. This will have to be evaluated on a case by case basis, taking into account the
uniformity of the production of the individual operators of the group, the way in which the group has
a control on the production practices of its individual members and the overall production conditions in
the region concerned.

(2001/C 163 E/054)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3190/00

by Brigitte Langenhagen (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(12 October 2000)

Subject: Energy costs in horticulture, differing conditions of competition

Among those businesses whose survival is increasingly threatened by the rapidly rising energy prices are
the horticultural firms of northern Germany, much of whose produce is cultivated in greenhouses. Because
of tax advantages, in the Netherlands, for example, competition in these tightly-knit regions is extremely
distorted. According to my research, German horticultural firms in the German-Dutch border region have
to bear more than double the burden in energy costs than their Dutch competitors because of oil company
price policy and higher VAT. With competition so fierce, the energy price rises cannot be passed on to the
consumer. The already existing distortions of competition due to the absence of tax harmonisation in
Europe have now been made glaringly obvious by the rising energy prices and threaten various industries
and occupations in different ways.

Could the Commission answer the following questions:

1.

Is the Commission aware of the precarious competitive environment in the horticultural industry?

2. What are the Commission(cid:146)s plans to eliminate or alleviate such distortions of competition in Europe?

3. What action will the Commission take against the oil companies(cid:146) differing price policy in the various

Member States?

4. Will the Commission take a strong line against obvious subsidies from Member States for different

industries? If so, by what means?

5. How will the Commission push through a harmonisation of the different rates of VAT?

6.6.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 163 E/57

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(14 December 2000)

The Commission regularly evaluates developments in the agriculture sector, including the horticul-

1.
ture sector.

2. and 3.
Differences in tax systems may result in different competitive positions for undertakings
located in different Member States. According to Article 93 (ex Article 99) of the EC Treaty it is for the
Council to decide (cid:129) unanimously (cid:129) on tax issues. A Commission proposal for a Council directive
restructuring the Community framework for the taxation of energy products (1) is under examination in
the Council.

If taxation fulfils the conditions of Article 87(1) (ex Article 92) of the EC Treaty, that means in particular if
it is selective (for example, a special rate for certain undertakings or productions) it falls under state aid
control by the Commission.

If energy suppliers were to come to an agreement on prices or market shares in a certain region, this could
be an infringement of Article 81 (ex Article 85) of the EC Treaty. Should the Honourable Member have
information indicating such an agreement exists, she is invited to forward this information to the
Commission so that it can be examined.

4.
The Commission has no knowledge of state aids related to energy costs in the agriculture sector apart
from the current exemption from the German ecotax which also benefits large glasshouses (approved as
state aid N 575/99) and the current exemption from the Dutch carbon dioxide (CO2) tax (approved as state
aid N 589/B/98). As far as the Commission knows, the Dutch horticulture sector enjoys no preferential
treatment on the energy market.

As far as VAT is concerned, under current Community legislation, the standard rate applies to
5.
energy. The level of the standard rate is 16 % in Germany, and 17,5 % in the Netherlands. Moreover,
taxable businesses can recover the VAT charged on energy costs.
In the context of the new VAT
strategy (2), a review and rationalisation of the rules and derogations applying to VAT rates will be
considered in the medium term.

(1) OJ C 139, 6.5.1997.
(2) COM(2000) 348 final.

(2001/C 163 E/055)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3192/00

by James Nicholson (PPE-DE) to the Council

(16 October 2000)

Subject: Religious minorities in India and Pakistan

Would the Council indicate the nature of the continuing representations being made to the governments
of
the
India and Pakistan regarding the protection of religious minorities, and is it satisfied that
Government of Pakistan has honoured earlier undertakings and that the Indian Government has paid due
attention to the European Parliament(cid:146)s resolution of 11 February 2000?

Reply

(12 February 2001)

At their political dialogue meetings with the Indian authorities, including recent meetings at senior official
and Ministerial level (in December 1999 in Helsinki, in May 2000 in New Delhi and in June 2000 in
Lisbon), the Troikas have raised the Union(cid:146)s concerns about respect for human rights and particularly
about repeated attacks on religious minorities in India. The Troika of senior officials also raised this
question at its recent meeting with the Indian side in Paris on 6 November 2000. The Union(cid:146)s diplomatic
representatives in Delhi have previously raised this subject with their Indian interlocutors on several
occasions, and will continue their efforts as long as the situation in India is not considered to be
satisfactory.