WRITTEN QUESTION E-0544/04 by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. CAP: intended change in the ratio between payments to large and small farms, a ceiling for aid per farm and limiting the damage caused to third countries.
Date: 2004-02-26
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: aid system, distribution of EU funding, large holding, reform of the CAP, smallholding, support policy, third country

C 78 E/956

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

27.3.2004

(2004/C 78 E/1012)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0544/04

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(26 February 2004)

Subject: CAP: intended change in the ratio between payments to large and small farms, a ceiling for aid per

farm and limiting the damage caused to third countries

the Common Agricultural Policy proposed by the Commission are
1. When the reforms of
implemented, what impact does the Commission expect them to have on the ratio between payments to
large and small farms: will it remain unaltered or will it change? What impact does the Commission intend
the reforms to have in this respect?

2.
Apart from the changes which the Commission has already proposed, does it consider additional
measures necessary to prevent further emigration from rural to urban areas, which would ultimately cut
agricultural production for the EU’s internal market?

3. Will the Commission work towards a subsidy model which safeguards the interests of small farmers
better than at present, for example by setting a limit (cid:1) e.g. EUR 30 000 (cid:1) for financial aid to a single
farm?

4. When weighing up the shape which the reform of the CAP should ultimately take, will
the
Commission also bear in mind the impact on small farmers in other parts of the world, particularly their
uncertainty regarding the supply of food and industrial raw materials for the internal market in the Third
World due to market-distorting, relatively cheap imports of farm surpluses from EU Member States?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(22 March 2004)

The Commission is collecting the information it needs to answer the question. It will communicate its
findings as soon as possible.

(2004/C 78 E/1013)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0545/04

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(26 February 2004)

Subject: CAP: consequences of the distribution of the reduction in income in agriculture and financing of

techniques which promote animal welfare or are environmentally sound for use on small farms

1.
Is the Commission aware of the report commissioned by the Netherlands Minister of Agriculture,
Nature Management and Fisheries and submitted on 1 April 2003 by the Agricultural Economics Research
Institute (LEI) which analyses the impact of the Commission’s reform proposals on developments in
agriculture and particularly on farm incomes, and which indicates in particular that in the Netherlands the
areas under cereals and fodder maize will decline substantially while cultivation of potatoes and vegetables
will increase, the area of pastureland will increase by 5 % and family incomes will fall by 28,4 % from their
present level of approximately EUR 30 000, the largest fall being 49 % in dairy farming?

2.
How is this decline in income likely to work out for the EU as a whole in the categories less than
25 ha, 25-50 ha, 50-75 ha, 75-100 ha, 100-500 ha, 500-1 000 ha and more than 1 000 ha, broken down
in percentages by type of farm in arable farming and livestock farming?