Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the "Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 1251/1999 establishing a support system for producers of certain arable crops, in order to include rice"
Date: 2000-12-14
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: aid per hectare, cereals, oleaginous plant, producer organisation, regional aid, rice

16.5.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 144/9

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on:

— the ‘Proposal for a Council Regulation on the common organisation of the market in rice’,

and

— the ‘Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 1251/1999 establishing

a support system for producers of certain arable crops, in order to include rice’

(2001/C 144/03)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the Proposal for a Council Regulation on the common organisation of the market in rice
(COM(2000) 278 final — 2000/0051 CNS);

having regard to the Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 1251/1999
establishing a support system for producers of certain arable crops, in order to include rice (COM(2000)
278 final — 2000/0052 CNS);

having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on this matter (CES 1200/2000),
adopted on 19 October 2000;

having regard to the decision taken by the Council on 19 June 2000, under the first paragraph of
Article 265 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, to ask the Committee to issue an
opinion on this subject;

having regard to the decision of its Bureau on 13 June 2000 to instruct Commission 2 — Agriculture,
Rural Development and Fisheries — to prepare the opinion;

having regard to the draft opinion adopted by Commission 2 (CdR 346/2000 rev. 1) on 25 October
2000 (Rapporteur: Mrs Aubert, Member of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Regional Council, F, PSE),

adopted the opinion set out below at its 36th plenary session held on 13 and 14 December 2000
(meeting of 14 December).

The Committee of the Regions

3.
considers that it would be incomprehensible if the special
treatment given to maize, as an irrigated crop, was not also
applied to rice, since its production costs are the same if not
higher, and the social, environmental and land-use role it plays
is decisive in European growing regions;

shares the Commission’s view that the rice market is out
1.
of balance and characterised by growing intervention stocks,
the costs of which are increasing every year; however, it does
not believe that the measures proposed by the Commission
will restore market balance, and fears that rice production in
the European Union will become unviable;

2.
points out that rice is not a crop which can be compared
to other cereals, since although productivity may be greater,
production costs are substantially higher. Integrating it into
the general scheme for arable crops could in the long run
prove damaging to this sector. Despite mechanisation, rice
cultivation is still the most labour-intensive of all cereal crops;

4.
points out, however, that the abolition of the inter-
vention mechanism for the rice sector alone would put farmers
in a weak position vis-à-vis the industry as far as setting prices
is concerned. Indeed, the Commission recognises that the
intervention price has always functioned as an indicator for
the market price. For rice growers the use of intervention
in recent years is the result of unfavourable international
the producers’ own practices.
agreements rather than of
Furthermore, setting payment at EUR 63/t would not suffice to
maintain farmers’ income and would lead to farm bankruptcies;

C 144/10

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

16.5.2001

5. maintains that, as no guarantees can be given on the
holding of
international negotiations with the EU’s main
trading partners, nor on their outcome, it would be more
prudent to protect the future of rice production in Europe by
negotiating new import duties before abolishing intervention,
and only introducing reforms when agreement has been
reached with the various international partners on new, fixed
duties;

6.
considers, as indicated in the ESC opinion, that the
Commission’s concern about an increase in the area used for
rice production is unwarranted, since the conditions required
for this kind of crop and the specialised mechanisation it
requires cannot be transferred to other crops. Most of the
traditional rice-growing areas are either to be found in shallow
marshland with insufficient internal and surface drainage or in
alluvial zones on the banks of rivers where the soil is made up
of marine sediment and where the groundwater has a high
salinity level. The soil saturation problems associated with
marshland and salinity in the groundwater means that no
crops other than rice can be grown. Moreover, flooding is vital
to prevent groundwater levels rising, thus preventing sodium
from being absorbed into the molecular structure of the clay,
which would lead to its disagglomeration, i.e. the soil would
lose its texture and integrity, making it unsuitable for any type
of crop. In agronomic terms, set-aside is not suitable for rice
areas and might indeed be harmful to the environmental
balance in numerous areas presently under cultivation;

7.
draws attention, as pointed out by the ESC, to the
Commission’s intention to include private storage as one of
the measures that the Management Committee for Cereals shall
be empowered to implement when market prices experience a
potentially persistent sharp drop or rise. This is a vague and
very general non-obligatory provision which could come
under the title on General Provisions, but never under the title
on the Internal Market, as is the case for the other CMOs.

Brussels, 14 December 2000.

Moreover, the Commission does not provide for any budget
for private storage in the financial statement. The Committee
calls on the Commission to clarify and quantify its understand-
ing of private storage aid when the sector is in crisis;

that

points out

the mandatory requirement

8.
to use
certified seed involves an unnecessary increase in costs, the
sole beneficiaries of which will be the seed suppliers. Farmers
always use some certified seed and some seed which they
themselves have produced and selected, since the density of
sowing depends on the temperature at the start of, and during,
the seed planting;

9.
notes, however, that in the regions of southern Europe
rice cultivation plays a key role in terms of economic
activity and maintaining employment. Further, farms are often
medium-sized or small concerns; sometimes, as is the case in
Spain, Portugal and Greece, holdings are so small that they
often are not even 10 hectares. This means that small rice
growers depend almost exclusively on rice for their farm
incomes. Without an intervention price, these farms will
scarcely be viable;

10.
considers that rice cultivation plays a key role in
preserving the wetlands in some parts of southern Europe and
therefore contributes to the preservation of an ecosystem
maintaining a wealth of distinctive flora and fauna that have
developed in symbiosis with rice growing practices. Preserving
wetlands also means protecting unique landscapes linked with
rice growing;

considers, that it is crucial for the Commission to
11.
envisage, on the one hand, a 25 000 tonne reduction in rice
imports as customs duty has been changed and, on the other,
an equivalent reduction of Community production through
set-aside. The Committee of the Regions considers that the
desired, but uncertain, end result does not justify the adoption
of measures that could endanger a crop which may be less
significant than other cereals but is nonetheless essential to
maintaining a balanced economy, environment and country-
side in some southern European regions.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Jos CHABERT