WRITTEN QUESTION E-3854/03 by Samuli Pohjamo (ELDR) to the Commission. Commission's plans for reforming State aid rules.
Date: 2003-12-16
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: State aid, legal code, less-favoured region, population density, regional aid, regional policy

C 84 E/252

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.4.2004

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(9 February 2004)

All Member States’ national reference quantities have been determined on the basis of their actual
production over a specific period. This approach, taken when the milk quota scheme began in 1984 and
on the occasion of subsequent enlargements, including the present one, avoids discrimination between
producers by not using population and internal consumption as criteria for setting milk quotas.

The national reference quantities allocated to the new Member States were determined country by country
on the basis of production in 2000 or 2001 or the average for a three-year period from 1997. These
production figures were then increased by 1 % giving a total of 18 327 895 tonnes for the ten countries.

Each country’s figure is:

Czech Republic

Estonia

Cyprus

Latvia

Lithuania

Hungary

Malta

Poland

Slovenia

Slovakia

(in tonnes)

2 682 143

624 483

142 200

695 395

1 646 939

1 947 280

48 698

8 964 017

560 424

1 013 316

Because of the very high rates of on-farm consumption, which is not included in milk quotas, in the
acceding countries, the Act of Accession includes a special reserve of 671 418 tonnes for them (Malta and
Cyprus excluded), to be released from 1 April 2006 onwards in line with whatever falls may occur in their
on-farm consumption. A decision on release of the reserve will be taken by the Commission on the basis
of reports from these countries to be made by 31 December 2005.

Beginning from 1 April 2000 Spain received a 550 000 tonne increase in two instalments decided on by
the Council as part of Agenda 2000. No further increase for her is planned at present.

(2004/C 84 E/0299)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3854/03

by Samuli Pohjamo (ELDR) to the Commission

(16 December 2003)

Subject: Commission’s plans for reforming State aid rules

The Commission is preparing a reform of the rules on State aid. Various challenges are associated with the
reform, including not only those of taking account of the statistical consequences of the enlargement of
the EU and preventing distortion of competition but also support for the objective of cohesion.

From the point of view of regional development and the objectives of regional policy, flexible rules on
State aid are important.

3.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 84 E/253

What is the general tenor of the reform which the Commission is preparing? Will Article 87(3)(c) of the
EC Treaty be amended? Will subparagraph (a) remain unaltered? How will amendments to the article take
account of the problems peculiar to sparsely populated areas of northern Europe, such as the cold climate
and long distances and the consequent higher transport costs?

For example, when, as in northern Finland, a metre of ice is broken over a distance of between 500 and
1 000 km to enable merchant shipping to reach the open sea, this significantly increases GDP, but
businesses incur substantially higher costs.

The guidelines on State aid restrict the scope for national aid mainly to Objective 1 regions. In addition,
exceptions are permitted, inter alia, on account of sparse population.

How will the future reform take account of the fact that many Objective 1 regions in the current Member
States will be reclassified as Objective 2 regions? Despite this fact, such regions, many of which are rural,
need special measures to safeguard their competitiveness and prevent any continuation of the tendency
towards centralisation and towards migration of populations to economically central areas. Will the
Commission consider criteria for permitting State aid other than the classification of regions by objective
and the GDP criterion used for that purpose?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(11 February 2004)

The Commission does not intend to propose any alterations to Article 87 of the EC Treaty.

As regards the Guidelines on national regional aid (1), the Commission decided on 2 April 2003 (2) to carry
out a revision of those Guidelines in due course for the period after 2006, allowing Member States and the
Commission time to draw up, notify and approve new regional aid maps.

With respect to the specific difficulties of the sparsely populated areas referred to by the Honourable
Member, the Commission would draw his attention to the fact that the present Guidelines do contain
specific provisions for those areas even where they are not eligible for the derogation in Article 87(3)a) of
the EC Treaty. Pursuant to Article 87(3)(c) of the EC Treaty higher investment aid intensities are allowed
there than in other areas eligible for this derogation. The Guidelines, furthermore, allow transportation aid
in these areas to cover the additional cost of transporting goods, and this despite the Commission’s
generally negative attitude towards operating aid.

The Honourable Member may rest assured that in the revision of the Guidelines, which is conducted in
close co-operation with the Member States, the Commission will certainly again take into account the
specific difficulties of sparsely populated areas.

(1) OJ C 74, 10.3.1998 and OJ C 258, 9.9.2000.
(2) OJ C 110, 8.5.2003.

(2004/C 84 E/0300)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3855/03

by Michl Ebner (PPE-DE)
and Paolo Pastorelli (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(16 December 2003)

Subject: Airport security

Our lives have changed radically since 11 September 2001. Fear of terrorist attack has become part of our
daily lives and consequently public safety measures have been stepped up in our cities and in high-risk key
facilities such as airports.