WRITTEN QUESTION E-0484/04 by Daniel Varela Suanzes-Carpegna (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Rural development: less-favoured areas.
Date: 2004-02-23
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Structural Funds, agricultural area with environmental restrictions, aid to agriculture, less-favoured region, reform of the CAP, rural development

3.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 84 E/601

Currently, and after the presentation of the Communication on the new financial perspectives 2007-
2013 (3) and the Third Cohesion report, the Commission is working on the preparation of the future new
rural development Regulation, which will be presented before the summer break of 2004. In preparing the
new draft Regulation, the Commission will reflect on how the new Rural Development policy can take
specific account of the needs of young farmers.

(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 of 17 May 1999 on support for rural development from the European
Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and amending and repealing certain Regulations, OJ L 160,
26.6.1999.

(2) Council Regulation (EC) No 1783/2003 of 29 September 2003 amending Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 on
support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF), OJ L 270,
21.10.2003.

(3) COM(2004) 101 final.

(2004/C 84 E/0676)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0484/04

by Daniel Varela Suanzes-Carpegna (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(23 February 2004)

Subject: Rural development: less-favoured areas

The European Parliament’s report on the recently adopted reform of the common agricultural policy
placed particular emphasis on boosting rural development aid for less-favoured areas. Even though the
final decision incorporates many of Parliament’s demands, it will bring about little improvement in the
situation for such areas, since this did not figure among the objectives of the initial Commission proposal.

Bearing in mind that rural development should be one of the Community’s cohesion policy instruments,
will the Commission improve the treatment given to these regions with a view to the forthcoming reform
of the structural funds?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(1 April 2004)

Under the reform the average compensatory allowance that can be granted in the less favoured areas has
been increased,
in cases where this is justified on factual grounds, to a maximum annual amount of
EUR 250 per hectare instead of EUR 200 as previously.

Support for investment by young farmers has been boosted in the less favoured rural areas since they are a
key factor in their development: under the new provisions of Article 7 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/
1999 of 17 May 1999 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and
Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and amending and repealing certain Regulations (1) the maximum total aid, as a
percentage of the eligible investment volume, has risen from 55 % to 60 %. This provision is applicable for
a period of five years from setting up.

Support under Article 16 for farmers in less favoured areas who are subject to restrictions in connection
with the ‘Birds’ (2) and ‘Habitat’ (3) Directives can be raised to EUR 500 per hectare in warranted cases
where specific problems are faced. This higher support is granted annually on a degressive basis for not
more than five years from the date on which the new restrictions become mandatory in line with
Community legislation.

C 84 E/602

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.4.2004

All the rural development measures, including the compensatory allowance for less favoured areas, will be
re-examined in preparation for the Regulation on rural development support during the programming
period after 2006.

(1) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999.
(2) Council Directive 79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the conservation of wild birds, OJ L 103, 25.4.1979.
(3) Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora,

OJ L 206, 22.7.1992.

(2004/C 84 E/0677)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0485/04

by Daniel Varela Suanzes-Carpegna (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(23 February 2004)

Subject: EU forest strategy: ‘Forest Focus’

Fires are one of the main causes of desertification and loss of biodiversity in European forests. The fires
which broke out last year caused genuinely traumatic situations in the Member States affected, but there
are few Community measures in place to combat
the problem, which is becomingly increasingly
widespread. The new ‘Forest Focus’ regulation on the monitoring of forests is virtually the only genuinely
‘Community’ instrument geared to combating fires, since corresponding rural development actions are
carried out in isolation and are not structured at European level.

Will the Commission make good this deficit in its forthcoming report on the EU’s forest strategy?

If so, can it list the measures that are being considered?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(31 March 2004)

fire prevention measures are currently supported by Regulation (EC) No 2152/2003 of

the
Forest
Parliament and of
forests and
environmental interactions in the Community (Forest Focus) (1)) and by the Rural Development Regulation
(Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 of 17 May 1999 on support for rural development from the
European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) (2)).

the Council of 17 November 2003 concerning the monitoring of

The forest fire prevention measures included in the Forest Focus and Rural Development Regulations must
into account the
conform to the forest fire protection plans of the Member States and take, thereby,
specific priorities and needs of the different regions. Moreover,
the forestry measures of the Rural
Development Regulation provide an integrated approach to sustainable forest management. As such, this
approach considers forest fire prevention,
in areas of high and medium fire risk, as an indispensable
element in the development of silvicultural systems aiming at sustainable forest management.

To improve the preparedness of the national forest fire-fighting operational centres, the Commission
developed a series of monitoring instruments, which provide for forecasting fire risk levels on a daily basis
and at pan-European level. The main results are forest fire risk maps, which are delivered day by day to the
competent national authorities and services, as well as to the Commission’s Monitoring and Information
Centre established under Council Decision 2001/792/EC, Euratom, of 23 October 2001, establishing a
Community mechanism to facilitate reinforced cooperation in civil protection assistance interventions (3).
This centre coordinates the mutual assistance interventions whenever such help is requested. Moreover,
after the 2003 fires, the Commission started offering training courses for national intervention teams and
it is organising a major forest fire exercise in order to better respond in future to disasters.