WRITTEN QUESTION E-0549/01 by Giovanni Pittella (PSE) and Vincenzo Lavarra (PSE) to the Commission. Payment of aid to breeders of Podolica cattle.
Date: 2001-02-27
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: aid to agriculture, application of EU law, cattle, eligibility criteria, environmental protection, grassland, livestock farming, mountain region, suspension of aid

18.9.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 261 E/141

involved in planning to route the LØrida-Barcelona stretch of the high-speed line through Santa Oliva? A
study conducted by the Santa Oliva town council has found that, were it to go ahead, the project would
directly affect 44 homes in the Cam(cid:237) dels Molins area, and indirectly affect 98 homes on the Sant Jordi
housing estate and 200 homes in the Les Pedreres area.

Therefore, bearing in mind the above facts, has the Commission also considered whether the planned route
through Santa Oliva is compatible with the stipulations of Regulation (EC) No 2236/95 (3) laying down
general rules for the granting of Community financial aid in the field of trans-European networks?

What measures does the Commission intend to take, should the route prove incompatible?

(1) OJ L 175, 5.7.1985, p. 40.
(2) OJ L 73, 14.3.1997, p. 5.
(3) OJ L 228, 23.9.1995, p. 1.

Answer given by Mrs Wallstr(cid:246)m on behalf of the Commission

(24 April 2001)

The Commission recently received a complaint about possible misapplication of Council Directive 85/337/
EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the
environment, alleging shortcomings in the environmental impact assessment conducted on the planned
LØrida-Martorell high-speed rail line. This is being studied.

As regards the specific case of Santa Oliva, the Commission is analysing the content and implications of
the documents submitted by the town council.

The information supplied by the Honourable Member is not sufficient to draw conclusions about any
possible infringement of the abovementioned Directive.

The Commission has indeed initiated an infringement procedure against Spain for incorrect application of
Directive 85/337/EEC on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the
environment in the case of the (cid:145)Las Palmas-Oropesa(cid:146) stretch of the planned Valencia-Tarragona line. This
particular stretch, which entails laying 13 kilometres of new track, had not been submitted for an
environmental impact assessment, as required by the obligations laid down in the Directive. However,
this infringement procedure does not concern the stretch mentioned in this written question.

The choice of routes submitted to the Commission for funding under Council Regulation (EC) No 2236/95
of 18 September 1995 laying down general rules for the granting of Community financial aid in the field
of trans-European networks is exclusively up to the Member State.

(2001/C 261 E/153)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0549/01

by Giovanni Pittella (PSE) and Vincenzo Lavarra (PSE) to the Commission

Subject: Payment of aid to breeders of Podolica cattle

(27 February 2001)

The breeding of Podolica cattle is today an important sector of the livestock industry in the Basilicata area
and receives support under national and Community aid policies.

In some areas this activity is conducted in a proper and profitable manner, but in others it is having an
adverse effect on the environment (while in the former case the aid is actually used for breeding purposes
(cid:129) that is to say, meat production (cid:129) in the latter the activity is a (cid:145)front(cid:146) and is conducted almost exclusively
for the purpose of obtaining the aid payments available). The Maratea area comes into the latter category.

C 261 E/142

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.9.2001

The municipality of Maratea is home to a large number of low-quality Podolica cattle which are reared in
breach of grazing laws (the grazing areas are mainly located on steep hilly terrain and as they move
around the animals often dislodge stones, which fall onto the main roads lying below; the pastures in
which ampelodesma grass (the Podolica breed(cid:146)s main foodstuff) grows are located only in areas where
there has been a fire, which, subject to heavy penalties, may not be used for grazing for a period of two
years; and makeshift gates and barbed-wire fences are widely used to prevent the animals from moving
down into the valley).

The above activities are in breach of regional law. Nonetheless, the government, which uses forestry service
personnel to patrol the area, continues to pay out aid despite the huge number of infringements recorded,
and thus short-circuits the whole process.

This situation calls for swift action in the form of clear regulations making it impossible for breeders who
infringe the grazing laws to receive aid and, in the longer term, a revision of the general framework for the
payment of aid. In particular, the basic criterion (the number of animals that may be grazed in a given
area) should be replaced by one which places greater responsibility on breeders, not least for protecting the
mountain environment.

How does the Commission intend to set about tackling the above problems?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(19 April 2001)

The Commission and the Member States are currently engaged in implementing Council Regulation (EC)
No 1260/1999 of 21 June 1999 laying down general provisions on the Structural Funds (1) and Council
Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 of 17 May 1999 on support for rural development from the European
Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and amending and repealing certain Regulations (2).

The first Regulation provides for aid for the structural development of Objective 1 regions, subject to
certain restrictions, in particular of an environmental nature.

Under the second, agro-environmental measures provide for aid intended to encourage farmers to use
production methods which preserve and improve the environment. Aid is granted per hectare but on
condition that the number of animals on the area concerned does not exceed a limit compatible with
safeguarding and improving the local environment. In order to receive aid, the recipient has to undertake
to provide management which appreciably exceeds good farming practice and to keep to this obligation
for a period of at least five years.

Therefore, the Community rules do not need to be changed but they must be properly enforced, on the
basis of full and satisfactory application of good farming practice in the region. This will have to include
rules on grazing in mountain areas so that the regional administration, in requesting approval of the 2000-
2006 programme, undertakes to grant premiums only to stock farmers who abide by these rules.

The Commission has no power to act concerning the activities of forestry personnel or infringements of
the regional laws but can suspend its part-financing of rural development programmes if its control bodies
note an infringement of Community rules and of the commitments entered into by the national authorities
and by the recipients of aid.

(1) OJ L 161, 26.6.1999.
(2) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999.