WRITTEN QUESTION P-1204/03 by Niels Busk (ELDR) to the Commission. Government aid to Italian farmers.
Date: 2003-03-25
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Council of the European Union, Italy, State aid, agricultural quota, aid to agriculture, control of State aid, milk

C 58 E/50

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

6.3.2004

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(21 May 2003)

According to Article 29 of the Europol Convention, the day-to-day management of Europol
is the
responsibility of the Europol Director. This includes the monitoring of the adequate processing of data by
Europol.

Pursuant to Article 24 of the Convention the responsibility for monitoring the adequacy of data processing
lies with the Joint Supervisory Body (JSB). The task of the JSB is in particular to ensure that the rights of
individuals are not violated by the storage, processing and utilisation of the data held by Europol. If the JSB
notes any violations of the provisions of the Europol Convention, it shall make any complaints it deems
necessary to the Director of Europol. The Director shall keep the Management Board, in which all the
Member States and the Commission are represented, informed of the entire procedure. In the event of any
difficulty, the JSB shall refer the matter to the Management Board.

The Commission has no responsibility for the development or administration of Europol operating systems
or other software used at Europol and does not have any access to their Information Technology (IT)
systems. The Commission, which attends the Management Board of Europol in an observer capacity, is not
aware of any reported complaints of the JSB on this issue.

Information on contractual obligations on intellectual property applying to the Europol systems should be
requested by the Honourable Members to Europol.

(2004/C 58 E/067)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1204/03

by Niels Busk (ELDR) to the Commission

(25 March 2003)

Subject: Government aid to Italian farmers

Does the Commission take the view that Italy has implemented the milk quota system satisfactorily on
individual farms and, if so, how does the Commission explain the fact that 93 % of Italian milk producers
have been able to exceed the milk quotas?

Has the Commission authorised the Italian Government to pay EUR 411 million to cover Italian milk
producers’ massive overshoot of their production quotas, and can the Commission confirm that the
exemptions from paying additional levies granted to Italian milk producers amount to EUR 411 million in
direct government aid to milk production in Italy?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(26 May 2003)

The Commission can indicate that about a third of Italian producers have exceeded their milk quota over
one or more of the periods 1995-1996 to 2000-2001.

A major difficulty that has arisen and continues to arise in the Italian management of milk quota is the fact
that the levy bills are almost systematically litigated in the Italian courts. This is notably due to the delay
accumulated by the Italian authorities in implementing the regime.

The Commission can inform the Honourable Member that the Italian Government is seeking authorisation
not from the Commission but from the Council of Ministers, under article 88(2) third subparagraph of the
EC Treaty, for state aid measures in favour of producers with outstanding levy payments. The Commission
will follow developments and reserves the right to take any action that appears appropriate.