WRITTEN QUESTION E-1790/01 by Fernando Fernández Martín (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Traditional ACP suppliers of bananas.
Date: 2001-06-19
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: ACP countries, GATT, World Trade Organisation, financial aid, originating product, technical cooperation, tropical fruit

C 115 E/12

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

16.5.2002

As regards the Presidency conclusions of the Stockholm European Council

in March 2001, the
3.
Commission concluded at
its meeting that progress in opening up energy markets had in most
Member States been more rapid than provided for in the directives and that this had led to distortions of
competition between firms.

The Commission considered that this situation called for: strict application of the competition rules and
the state aid rules, including those on nuclear energy; more rapid adoption by the Council and Parliament
of the second liberalisation package; the possible application of Article 86, and particularly paragraph 3, in
the event of any delay in adopting the package, with directives or decisions being addressed to
Member States with a view to eliminating any distortions of competition, while preserving service
obligations of general economic interest; and, lastly, a speedy solution to problems linked to tarification in
intra-Community trade and to the development of infrastructures which impeded the effective opening-up
of markets.

On the other hand, the Commission concluded that the concerns expressed at the Stockholm European
Council must not give rise to unilateral action by Member States in breach of the fundamental freedoms of
the EC Treaty.

(1) See page 5.

(2002/C 115 E/011)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1790/01

by Fernando Fernández Martín (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Traditional ACP suppliers of bananas

(19 June 2001)

As a result of the agreements relating to the banana import scheme concluded, firstly, between the
European Union and the United States of America and, secondly, between the European Union and
Ecuador, an additional 100 000 tonnes of ‘dollar bananas’ will be imported into the Community as from
1 July 2002.

That new scheme increases the need for traditional ACP banana suppliers rapidly to improve their market
competitiveness.

In 1999, the European Union adopted technical and financial assistance measures to support traditional
ACP suppliers of bananas (Council Regulation (EC) No 856/1999 (1) and Commission Regulation (EC)
1609/1999 (2)) with the specific aim of improving their competitiveness and facilitating the transition
towards the liberalisation of the market scheduled for 2006.

To date, those measures have not been implemented, and this is jeopardising the efforts being made by our
ACP partners to adapt to the new market conditions.

Can the Commission explain the reasons for the delay and indicate the measures which it intends to take
in order to make up the leeway and enable the aid to be disbursed?

(1) OJ L 108, 27.4.1999, p. 2.
(2) OJ L 190, 23.7.1999, p. 14.

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(7 November 2001)

In the second phase of the new banana import scheme (and until 1 January 2006), 100 000 tonnes will be
transferred from tariff quota C to tariff quota B. The new quota C will be reserved exclusively for
producers in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, and adoption of the new Regulation (1)
will be conditional on the World Trade Organisation authorising a derogation from Article XIII of the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), since under the new Regulation a tariff quota of bananas
reserved exclusively for ACP producers would be maintained until January 2006, which conflicts with
Article XIII of the GATT.

16.5.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 115 E/13

To date Council Regulation (EC) No 856/1999 of 22 April 1999 establishing a special framework of
assistance for traditional ACP suppliers of bananas (2) and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1609/1999 of
22 July 1999 (3) laying down the detailed rules for the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 856/1999
have been implemented as follows:

A In its 1999 budget, on budget line B7-8710, Assistance to ACP banana producers, the Commission
reserved 45 million euros for financing projects relating to the special framework of assistance for
traditional ACP suppliers of bananas established by the Regulations cited above. The amounts
allocated in the 2000 and 2001 budgets were € 44 475 million and € 44 million respectively. In the
preliminary draft budget for 2002 the provisional allocation is € 45 million.

A Under the 1999 budget, project financing agreements were signed for a total of € 44,5 million with
nine of the 12 countries listed in the Regulations as traditional ACP suppliers of bananas. Two of the
others (Madagascar and Somalia) submitted neither projects nor long-term strategies and so under the
rules did not qualify to benefit from the system. Their allocations were shared out among the others.
No agreement could be signed with the twelfth, Cape Verde, because of administrative delays. Its
individual allocation of € 0,5 million was therefore lost. Overall, the nine countries that signed
financing agreements used 77 % of the funds to make their bananas more competitive and 23 % to
diversify.

A Under the 2000 budget there were 10 agreements for a total of € 44 075 million. Madagascar and
Somalia were again excluded for the same reasons and their appropriations were re-distributed among
the others, apart from € 400 000 which was used to finance a project-monitoring contract. Cape
Verde was included this time and was even partially compensated for the loss of its 1999 funding.
Overall, 73 % of
the 10 agreements was used to increase the
the funding allocated under
competitiveness of bananas and 27 % to diversify.

A The new projects for 2001 are still at being appraised.

A total of € 3 345 000 has been disbursed so far. This figure should be considered in the light of the fact
that the first agreements were not signed by the Commission until August 2000 and were signed by the
beneficiaries between September and February 2000. Conclusion of these agreements was held up by a
large number of legal problems. Since a new 10-year programme was involved, with 12 beneficiaries and
so, potentially, 120 agreements, the Commission had to develop a system that was as simple and
harmonised as current legislation permitted. From the point of view of the signatory countries, the status
of the end beneficiaries varied widely from one country to another, from a single state-owned enterprise in
Surinam to thousands of small family farms in the Windward Islands

(1) COM(2000) 477 final.
(2) OJ L 108, 27.4.1999.
(3) OJ L 190, 23.7.1999.

(2002/C 115 E/012)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1811/01

by Luis Berenguer Fuster (PSE) to the Commission

(19 June 2001)

Subject: The internal electricity market and competition

The Spanish Government repeatedly maintains that it has liberalised the electricity sector (and that it did so
even before it was required to by law), although such a claim does not correspond to reality. The
generating companies are still the same ones as were in operation in the days of the oligopoly and there is
no evidence of competition on the distribution side either, since there has been only a 1,5 % shift in the
market. If that were not enough the Spanish electricity companies’ costs of transition to competition (CTC),
which were calculated on the basis of asset evaluations which the market has subsequently trimmed quite