WRITTEN QUESTION E-1543/02 by Paulo Casaca (PSE) to the Commission. Discrimination against Azores refinery promoted by the Commission.
Date: 2002-06-03
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Azores, EU aid, export policy, production quota, sugar industry, sugar refining, supply

6.2.2003

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 28 E/117

The notion of supporting the most remote regions has been used as a pretext for introducing de facto
discrimination against the Azores sugar industry.

Can the Commission state when it intends to end this discrimination, by restoring Sinaga’s authorisation to
produce 20 000 tonnes as granted under Portugal’s Act of Accession, by putting an end to its exclusion
from internal market rights, and by granting it exactly the same subsidies and level as protection as its
mainland competitors?

(1) OJ L 8, 11.1.2002, p. 1.

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(4 July 2002)

Article 11 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/2001 of 19 June 2001 on common organisation of the
markets in the sugar sector (1) allots the Azores a quota (A+B) of 9 953 tonnes. Within the limit of this
quantity Azorean beetgrowers receive exceptionally Community aid of EUR 800/hectare and the sugar
enterprise receives exceptionally Community aid of EUR 270/tonne of sugar for conversion of this beet
into sugar.

On top of this quota the Azorean sugar enterprise can refine raw sugar up to a volume of 10 000 tonnes
per year.

In conjunction with this refining quota the Azores is supplied with raw beet sugar at the world market
price under the specific supply arrangements (SSA) determined by Council Regulation (EEC) No 1453/
2001 of 28 June 2001 (2), within the limit of the archipelago’s supply requirements and with due account
taken of
from local beet. Commission Regulation (EC) No 21/2002 of
28 December 2001 (3) assessed the Azores’ supply requirement under the SSA as the volume of local
sugar consumption, i.e. 6 500 tonnes per year.

its production of sugar

Given the foregoing the Commission considers that the Community provides an exceptionally favourable
level of support for maintaining and expanding sugar production in the Azores. It notes that Azorean
beetgrowers restrict their production to a volume corresponding to 700 tonnes/year of sugar. It must
accordingly reject
the
sugar enterprise in the Azores.

that discriminate against

set up arrangements

the complaint

it has

that

(1) OJ L 178, 30.6.2001.
(2) Council Regulation (EC) No 1453/2001 introducing specific measures for certain agricultural products for the

Azores and Madeira and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 1600/92 (Poseima), OJ L 178, 30.6.2001.

(3) Commission Regulation (EC) No 21/2002 establishing the supply balances and Community aid for the outermost

regions under Council Regulations (EC) Nos 1452/2001, 1453/2001 and 1454/2001, OJ L 8, 11.1.2002.

(2003/C 28 E/132)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1543/02

by Paulo Casaca (PSE) to the Commission

(3 June 2002)

Subject: Discrimination against Azores refinery promoted by the Commission

The Act of Accession of Portugal to the European Communities allows the sugar refinery in the Azores a
production level of 20 000 tonnes, under market protection conditions compatible with those applying in
the rest of the EU. This quantity was, already in 1986, approximately double the consumption level in the
Azores themselves.

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Official Journal of the European Union

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6.2.2003

In 1991, the Commission introduced a new regime under which the maximum production level was
reduced to 10 000 tonnes but, by way of compensation, the level of subsidy per tonne was increased by
comparison with that applying in the rest of the EU, and a provision was introduced paving the way for
competition with production from the rest of the EU on the basis of a supply authorisation for Azores
sugar under the heading of ‘traditional consignments’.

The Commission has, however, astonishingly begun to contest
the concept of
traditional consignments earlier proposed by itself, and has refused to take action against the blatant
dumping being practised in the Azores by refineries located elsewhere in the EU.

the applicability of

Thanks to this situation of unlimited imports from the rest of the EU to the Azores, compounded by the
virtual disappearance of the islands’ food-processing industry, the Azores refinery’s share of the local
market has gone into free fall. The Commission’s policy, as expressed in the prohibition of sugar
consignments from the Azores under Regulation 20/2002, is effectively blocking the operations of the
refinery, thus fulfilling the agenda of the EU sugar cartel.

The Commission:

1. Can it state whether or not it is true that its implementing legislation has led to a situation in which

the concept of ‘traditional consignments’ no longer applies to any Azorean products?

2. Does it not consider that it would have been preferable to ban consignments from the Azores for
products subsidised under the supplies regime than to propose complex legislation to the Council,
only for that legislation to be rendered totally meaningless by rules adopted later?

3. Does it not consider that the sole concrete effect of the authorisation of ‘traditional consignments’
proposed by it in the EU legislation on Poseima was to mislead the Azorean authorities into giving up,
in 1991, the rights acquired in the Act of Accession?

4. Does it not consider that what is involved is a concerted action by the sugar-refining cartel and itself

to close down independent production in the Azores?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(5 July 2002)

Article 17(1) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 20/2002 of 28 December 2002 (1) laying down
1.
detailed rules for implementing the specific supply arrangements for the outermost regions introduced by
Council Regulations (EC) Nos 1452/2001 to 1454/2001 reads ‘Processors who have declared … their
intention to export, in the context of regional trade, or dispatch, in the context of traditional trade flows,
processed products containing raw materials which have benefited from the specific supply arrangements,
may do so within the limits of annual quantities to be determined by the Commission in accordance with
Article 35(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1453/2001.’

In line with the above the Commission will adopt a Regulation authorising consignments or exports of
processed products with which the Azores is supplied as a result of the workings of the specific supply
arrangements.
Its provisions will be based on the evidence of existence of exports or traditional
consignments before entry into force of the specific supply arrangements introduced under the Poseima
Regulation. To this end the Commission awaits statistics for 1989 to 1991 from the Portuguese
authorities.

2.
The rules adopted by the Commission aim at permitting exports and traditional consignments to be
made within a clear legal framework. If the requirement of the Council Regulation (traditional trade flows)
is not met the Commission cannot satisfy the Honourable Member’s wishes.

6.2.2003

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 28 E/119

3.

The sugar sector rules for the Azores cover a quantity of some 20 000 tonnes as follows.

(cid:1) where sugar production is concerned, Article 11 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/2001 of 19 June
2001 on common organisation of the markets in the sugar sector (2) allows the Azores a quota (A+B)
of 9 953 tonnes. Within the limit of that quantity Azorean beetgrowers receive an aid per hectare and
the sugar enterprise an aid for conversion into sugar;

(cid:1) there is a limit of 10 000 tonnes a year on refining of raw beet sugar supplied to the Azores under the
specific supply arrangements. The supply needs must also take account of Azorean sugar production
from local beet.

4.
It is clear from the foregoing that the provisions of both the Act of Accession of Portugal to the
European Communities and the Regulations mentioned under 1 are applied by the Commission, which is
certainly not engaged in concerted action with any party aimed at the closure of sugar plants in the
Azores.

(1) OJ L 8, 11.1.2002.
(2) OJ L 178, 30.6.2001.

(2003/C 28 E/133)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1547/02

by Brigitte Langenhagen (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: By-catches of marine mammals, in particular dolphins

(3 June 2002)

Numerous press articles have reported that dead dolphins have been washed ashore along the coasts of
Europe, above all along the French Atlantic coast. The marine mammals become caught in fishermen’s nets
and suffer serious injuries which result in their death. It is also reported that the fishermen frequently cut
open the dolphins so that the carcasses sink to the sea-bed and nothing can be proven.

Does the Commission have any information on by-catches of dolphins? Does it have any information on
the results of the fisheries surveillance carried out by the Member States as regards dolphins? What
measures are taken by the inspection authorities in the Member States when the practices described above
are discovered? Does the action taken by the inspection authorities vary between Member States?

What measures does the Commission intend to take to reduce overall by-catches of marine mammals?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(20 June 2002)

The Commission has requested scientific, objectively validated information on the extent of cetacean by-
catch and mortality induced by fishing. This information is summarised in the December 2001 report of
the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries’ subgroup on fishery and the environment,
available as Commission staff working paper (1).

The Commission is at present receiving reports from Member States on their implementation of Council
Directive 92/43/EEC, of 21 May 1992, on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and
flora (2) where Article 12 explicitly includes the obligation to monitor the incidental capture and killing of
cetaceans. The first indications point to large differences in monitoring frequency and coverage, which
makes it difficult to obtain a clear picture of the by-catch problem at Community level.