WRITTEN QUESTION E-3452/02 by Carlos Bautista Ojeda (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. The Andalusia region's GIS.
Date: 2002-12-06
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Andalusia, European Commission, aid system, appeal to an administrative authority, farmer, geographical information system, olive oil, report

12.6.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 137 E/209

(2003/C 137 E/235)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3452/02

by Carlos Bautista Ojeda (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(6 December 2002)

Subject: The Andalusia region’s GIS

Under Community law, one of the requirements of the olive-oil production-aid monitoring scheme is that
a Geographical Information System (GIS) should be in operation. From 1 November 2003 the above aid
scheme will apply only to olive trees registered under an approved GIS. On 14 October 2002 the Spanish
authorities submitted the Andalusia region’s GIS to the Commission for approval. The relevant document
has been sent for processing to the Andalusian Government, which is being bombarded with appeals
concerning discrepancies vis-à-vis the data submitted by the Spanish Agriculture Ministry. It is currently
estimated that approximately 30 000 olive producers have lodged appeals and that a further 11 000 have
had their appeals rejected on the grounds that they were submitted too late. In the meantime, and pending
settlement of their appeals, farmers are unable to receive advance payments on the next season’s crop.

Is the Commission aware of this state of affairs? If so, does it consider approval of such a controversial GIS
to be feasible? Can it say what stage has been reached in the processing of that GIS?

Does the Commission consider that the Spanish Government should be asked to draw up a new GIS once
the outstanding cases are settled?

Is the Commission aware that, in view of the large number of appeals, approving the GIS as submitted
would be tantamount to excluding many Andalusian olive trees from the census? This would lead to
unofficial olive oil production which could prevent the relevant Community rules from being applied, with
a consequent risk to consumers.

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(21 January 2003)

The GIS requirements for olive cultivation are described in Commission Regulation (EC) No 2366/1998 (1),
which sets criteria determining when the GIS can be considered complete. When a Member State considers
that the criteria have been met it will inform the Commission. According to the Regulation it has to
produce a final report and send it to the Commission.

The Spanish authorities have sent the Commission an announcement but not so far produced a final
report as required by the Regulation. In its absence the Commission cannot consider that the GIS for the
Autonomous Community of Andalusia is finalised.

The GIS data may clash with the information provided by producers. It is normal procedure for these
differences to be resolved by means of a verification procedure. However, the percentage of outstanding
cases has to decrease to an acceptable level as defined in the Regulation.

Producers were well informed of this verification procedure by the unions and the local government of
Andalucia. It started in July 2001 and the deadline for submitting objections was several times extended to
enable producers to correct their data.

As this process of checking outstanding cases continues the GIS will be updated as appropriate. It will not
be necessary to draw up a new GIS.

The Commission intends to start evaluating the GIS in Andalucia as soon as the final report is received.
Only then it will have an impression of its overall quality and completeness.

C 137 E/210

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

12.6.2003

The Commission does not think that the difficulties to which the Honourable Member refers entail any risk
to product quality, a matter to which it naturally attaches greater importance.

(1) Commission Regulation (EC) No 2366/98 of 30 October 1998 laying down detailed rules for application of the
system of production aid for olive oil for the 1998/99, 1999/2000 and 2000/01 marketing years, OJ L 293,
31.10.1998.

(2003/C 137 E/236)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3453/02

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(27 November 2002)

Subject: Economic integration

What measures would the Commission propose to use as benchmarks to assess the importance of foreign
ownership in the production structure of each Member State, including ownership by companies in other
Member States?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(27 January 2003)

An appropriate indicator to assess the importance of foreign control is the share of value added generated
the whole economy (including enterprises
by foreign-controlled enterprises on the value added of
controlled by the compiling economy). Another possibility is to measure the importance in terms of
employment. Enclosed herein there are results obtained in the Structural Business Statistics-Framework
with data for reference year 1999 for seven participating Member States. For more detailed information,
the publication ‘Foreign-owned enterprises’ with data for reference year 1997 and the Statistics in Focus
‘Foreign-owned enterprises’ with data for reference year 1998 are sent direct to the Honourable Member
and to Parliament’s Secretariat.

However, this measure is not available for all Member States and not for the Union aggregate. A draft
Regulation on the structure and activity on foreign affiliates is presently under discussion following
Eurostat initiative. This legal framework would enable to provide the requested information for all Member
States and for the Union as a whole.

For the time being, an alternative indicator is given by foreign direct investment (FDI) statistics. FDI inward
stock expressed in percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP) (see the reply given to written question
E-3637/02 by the Honourable Member (1) and tables which are sent direct to the Honourable Member and
to Parliament’s Secretariat) can provide indication on the comparative importance of foreign ownership
over space and time. FDI are more readily available in time and more complete, but they have a financial
dimension and do not give information on real variables such as production, employment, etc.

(1) OJ C 110 E, 8.5.2003, p. 221.

(2003/C 137 E/237)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3457/02

by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(6 December 2002)

Subject: Eurocost

Between 1990 and 2000 what budget was spent on officials posted outside of the EU for compensation
due to differences in the cost of living compared to Brussels?

Between 1990 and 2000 what budget was attributed to the non-profit organisation Eurocost, founded by
Yves Franchet, director-general of Eurostat, in Luxembourg since 1987?