WRITTEN QUESTION P-0797/01 by María Rodríguez Ramos (PSE) to the Commission. Support for producers' organisations and reform of COM in cotton.
Date: 2001-03-13
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU aid, common organisation of markets, cotton, producer organisation

C 261 E/198

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.9.2001

(2001/C 261 E/225)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0797/01

by Mar(cid:237)a Rodr(cid:237)guez Ramos (PSE) to the Commission

(13 March 2001)

Subject: Support for producers(cid:146) organisations and reform of COM in cotton

Part of the argument used by Commissioner Fischler in his statement to Parliament of 15 February 2001
concerning the report by Mr Korakas on the system of aid for cotton was based on an error.

Mr Fischler said that he could not accept Amendments Nos. 7, 8, 16 and 19, proposing the introduction
of a scheme to support cotton producers(cid:146) organisations, because Regulation (EC) 398/82 (1) had already
established a system of incentives for such organisations and it would amount to duplication. All the signs
are that Mr Fischler was misinformed or failed to take into account the fact that the regulation in question
expired nine years ago on 25 February 1992. It was precisely this that prompted myself and other
members to table these amendments in the Committee on Agriculture.

In view of this error, will the Commission now accept the validity of these amendments?

If it continues to oppose them, what mechanism does it intend to introduce under the COM in cotton to
assist producers(cid:146) organisations?

(1) OJ L 51, 23.2.1982, p. 1.

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(18 April 2001)

Paragraph 4 of Protocol 4 on cotton, annexed to the Act of Accession of Greece, provides for the grant of
aid with a view to encouraging the formation of producer groups and associations thereof and assisting
their operation.

The general rules of the aid scheme were laid down by Council Regulation (EEC) No 389/82, which
determines in particular,
the system for recognising producer groups and
associations. The Community, from 1982 to 1992, thus encouraged their formation: launching aid was
provided together with investment aid, primarily for the purchase of harvesting machinery. The possession
of harvesting machinery has now become general, in Greece as well as in Spain.

in its Articles 1 to 3,

Currently, and this has been the case since 1993, no common measure provided for in Regulation (EEC)
No 389/82 is the subject of Community financial support, since the period envisaged for carrying out
these measures is over. However, it should be noted that the Regulation has not been repealed and that the
rules on the organisations in question, in particular their articles of association and the way they operate,
still apply.

In addition, it should be pointed out that cotton also benefits from the across-the-board structural and
agro-environmental measures which concern farms or collective action in the regions where cotton
growing is established.

Since it did not appear justified to finance the creation of the same producer groups twice, and their
operation is already indirectly supported by the cotton regime and the across-the-board measures, the
Commission rejected amendments 7, 8, 16 and 19 referred to by the Honourable Member.