WRITTEN QUESTION E-3302/01 by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Lack of support for rape-seed oil.
Date: 2001-11-28
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU aid, agricultural production, oil seed rape, olive oil, production aid, vegetable oil

C 147 E/148

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

20.6.2002

(2002/C 147 E/155)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3302/01

by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(28 November 2001)

Subject: Lack of support for rape-seed oil

The Community fails to support rape-seed oil but promotes olive oil. Farmers in Spain receive more than
double the support received by Swedish rape-seed growers per cultivated hectare. Moreover, Spanish
growers receive thousands of pounds in support for the marketing of olive oil whereas rape-seed growers
do not receive a single penny for marketing.

Rape-seed growers regard their crop as environment-friendly. In Spain, in Andalusia for instance, olive
groves are reportedly destroying the environment. As growers are paid for the finished oil, more and more
olive trees are being planted. That in turn puts pressure on ground water resources. Subsidies for olive
growing in southern Europe are a significant single item in the EU budget (the Economist puts it at 2,5 %
of the budget).

Much needs to be done to resolve numerous problems in this sector. One principle, however, is important
on the free internal market now being created 0 equivalent goods must be given equivalent treatment.

What does the Commission intend to do to put rape-seed oil and olive oil on an equal footing on the
internal market?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(7 January 2002)

According to the Honourable Member, subsidy arrangements discriminate against the production of
rapeseed oil to the benefit of olive oil.

It can be difficult, and even dangerous, to make comparisons between two products that differ so widely.
Rapeseed is an annual crop, with a wide range of substitutes (other oilseeds and arable crops); olive trees,
on the other hand, are perennial, producing a crop in alternate years. No income at all is generated for
producers in the first four or five years after planting.

One way of comparing support levels for the two crops would be to compare Community aid by area
cultivated. While the total area under rapeseed in the Community is 2,8 million hectares, the area planted
with olive-trees is 5,7 million hectares. The level of support per hectare can be calculated on the basis of
total aid granted for that area. This gives a figure of 415 per hectare paid to olive-growers for the
marketing year 1999/2000, and a figure of 567 to 733 per hectare to the producers of oilseeds in the
principal rapeseed-producing regions for the same period, with an average of 408 per hectare for Sweden,
where the yield is lower.

It should also be borne in mind that olive-growing is mainly located in less-favoured areas where other
crops, and in particular arable crops, cannot be grown. The Honourable Member draws attention to the
environmental problem in certain olive-growing regions and we should not underestimate this aspect of
intensive cropping; the Commission is studying the fundamentals of this matter, with a view to remedying
the problem in a forthcoming reform. However, environmentally damaging practices are the exception
rather than the rule for the immense majority of producers and regions. Indeed, in most cases olive-
growing is beneficial to the environment and to rural development.