European Parliament legislative resolution on the proposal for a Council regulation amending Regulations (EEC) No 404/93, (EC) No 1782/2003 and (EC) No 247/2006 as regards the banana sector (COM(2006)0489 - C6-0339/2006 - 2006/0173(CNS))
Date: 2006-12-13
Institutions: Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, European Parliament
Subjects: EU aid, aid to agriculture, common commercial policy, common organisation of markets, regional aid, tropical fruit

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3. Urges the Council, in considering the proposed change to the legal basis of the Commission proposal,
to avoid any delay in the allocation of the International Fund for Ireland;

4. Calls on the Council to notify Parliament if it intends to depart from the text approved by Parliament;

5. Asks the Council
substantially;

to consult Parliament again if

it

intends to amend the Commission proposal

6.

Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and Commission.

TEXT PROPOSED
BY THE COMMISSION

AMENDMENTS
BY PARLIAMENT

Amendment 1

Citation 1

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 308 thereof,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 159 thereof,

(This amendment concerns the whole text.)

P6_TA(2006)0563

Banana sector *

European Parliament legislative resolution on the proposal for a Council regulation amending
Regulations (EEC) No 404/93, (EC) No 1782/2003 and (EC) No 247/2006 as regards the banana
sector (COM(2006)0489 — C6-0339/2006 — 2006/0173(CNS))

(Consultation procedure)

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the Commission proposal to the Council (COM(2006)0489) (1),

— having regard to Article 37 of the EC Treaty, pursuant to which the Council consulted Parliament

(C6-0339/2006),

— having regard to Rule 51 of its Rules of Procedure,

— having regûard to the report of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and the opinions

of the Committee on Budgets and the Committee on Regional Development (A6-0422/2006);

1. Approves the Commission proposal as amended;

(1) Not yet published in OJ.

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2. Considers that the indicative financial reference amount given in the Commission proposal must be
compatible with the ceiling of heading 2 of the new multi-annual financial framework (MFF) and observes
that the annual amount will be decided within the annual budgetary procedure in accordance with point 38
of the Interinstitutional Agreement between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on
budgetary discipline and sound financial management of 17 May 2006 (1);

3. Calls on the Commission to alter its proposal accordingly, pursuant to Article 250(2) of the EC Treaty;

4. Calls on the Council to notify Parliament if it intends to depart from the text approved by Parliament;

5. Asks the Council
substantially;

to consult Parliament again if

it

intends to amend the Commission proposal

6.

Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and the Commission.

TEXT PROPOSED
BY THE COMMISSION

AMENDMENTS
BY PARLIAMENT

Amendment 1

Recital 1

living of

(1) Currently the regime for the banana sector is set out in
Council Regulation (EEC) No 404/93 of 13 February 1993 on
the common organisation of the market in bananas. In particu-
lar the aid scheme for banana producers is based on principles
which for other common market organisations have been
substantially reformed. In order to better ensure a fair standard
the agricultural community in regions where
of
bananas are produced,
resources towards
market-orientation of producers, to stabilise expenditure, to
ensure the respect of
the
Community, to take adequately into account the particularities
of the producing regions, to simplify the management of the
regime and align it on the principles of the reformed common
market organisations, it is necessary to amend this regime.

the international obligations of

to better direct

living of

(1) Currently the regime for the banana sector is set out in
Council Regulation (EEC) No 404/93 of 13 February 1993 on
the common organisation of the market in bananas. In particu-
lar the aid scheme for banana producers is based on principles
which for other common market organisations have been
substantially reformed. In order to better ensure a fair standard
the agricultural community in regions where
of
bananas are produced, to better direct resources towards the
specific development processes in these regions, to stabilise
expenditure, to ensure the respect of the international obliga-
tions of the Community, to take adequately into account the
to simplify the
the producing regions,
particularities of
management of the regime and align it on the principles of the
reformed common market organisations,
is necessary to
amend this regime.

it

Amendment 2

Recital 2 a (new)

(2a) Since the introduction of the common organisation of
the market (COM) in bananas, in response to competition
from third-country banana producers and with a view to
ensuring proper use of Community funds, the whole industry
has made major modernisation efforts covering all stages
from production to marketing, significantly raising produc-
tivity and improving product quality while reducing the
environmental impact of its activities. The COM has also
encouraged the concentration of Community supply, which
has contributed to the sector's consolidation in producer
regions and facilitated the marketing of European bananas.

(1) OJ C 139, 14.6.2006, p. 1.

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TEXT PROPOSED
BY THE COMMISSION

Amendment 3

Recital 3

Wednesday, 13 December 2006

AMENDMENTS
BY PARLIAMENT

(3) Bananas are one of the main agricultural crops of certain
outermost regions of the Union, notably the French overseas
departments of Guadeloupe and Martinique,
the Azores,
Madeira and the Canary Islands. Production of bananas is
handicapped in particular by the remoteness, insularity, small
size, and difficult topography of these regions. Local banana
production is an essential element of the environmental, social
and economic balance of the rural areas in those regions.

(3) Bananas are one of the main agricultural crops of certain
outermost regions of the Union, notably the French overseas
departments of Guadeloupe and Martinique,
the Azores,
Madeira and the Canary Islands. Production of bananas is
handicapped in particular by the remoteness, insularity, small
size, and difficult topography of these regions. Local banana
production is an essential element of the environmental, social
and economic balance of
the rural areas in those regions
which, furthermore, have no alternative that would enable
them to diversify into other economically viable crops.

Amendment 4

Recital 3a (new)

(3a) Account should be taken of the socio-economic impor-
tance of the banana sector to the outermost regions and the
contribution which it makes to achieving social and economic
cohesion on account of the income and employment which it
generates, the economic activities to which it gives rise (both
upstream and downstream), and the effect which it has of
maintaining an ecological and landscape balance which
encourages the development of tourism.

Amendment 5

Recital 5

(5) Title III of Council Regulation (EC) No 247/2006 of
30 January 2006 laying down specific measures for agriculture
in the outermost regions of the Union provides for the estab-
lishment of Community support programmes for the outer-
most regions containing specific measures to assist local lines
of agricultural production. This Regulation provides for a
review not later than 31 December 2009. If there are substan-
tial changes to the economic conditions affecting livelihoods
in the outermost regions, the Commission shall submit the
report sooner. This instrument seems best adapted to support
banana production in each of
the regions concerned by
providing for flexibility and decentralisation of mechanisms to
including
support banana production. The possibility of
banana support in those support programmes should reinforce
the coherence of
the strategies for support of agricultural
production in these regions.

(5) Title III of Council Regulation (EC) No 247/2006 of
30 January 2006 laying down specific measures for agriculture
in the outermost regions of the Union provides for the estab-
lishment of Community support programmes for the outer-
most regions containing specific measures to assist local lines
of agricultural production. This Regulation provides for a
review not later than 31 December 2009. However, in order
to take due account of the specific circumstances of banana
producers, in the event of a significant deterioration in the
economic situation of producers resulting in particular from
alterations to the external regime, the Commission should
submit a specific report to the European Parliament and the
Council prior to that deadline. This instrument seems best
adapted to support banana production in each of the regions
concerned by providing for flexibility and decentralisation of
mechanisms to support banana production. The possibility of
including banana support
in those support programmes
should reinforce the coherence of the strategies for support of
agricultural production in these regions.

Amendment 6

Recital 5 a (new)

(5a) Provision should be made for the payment of one of
more specific advances to banana producers in outermost
regions.

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TEXT PROPOSED
BY THE COMMISSION

AMENDMENTS
BY PARLIAMENT

Amendment 7

Recital 7

(7) As regards production of bananas in the Community
other than in the outermost regions, it seems no longer neces-
sary to provide for a specific aid scheme for bananas, given
the total Community production
the small proportion of
concerned.

(7) As regards production of bananas in the Community
other than in the outermost regions, it seems appropriate to
give Member States the opportunity to opt for the system of
partial decoupling of aid for bananas, despite the small
proportion of the total Community production concerned.

Amendment 8

Recital 8

No

(EC)

Regulation

1782/2003

(8) Council
of
29 September 2003 establishing common rules for direct
support schemes under the common agricultural policy and
farmers and
establishing certain support
amending certain Regulations provides for a system of
decoupled income support for farms (hereinafter referred to
as ‘the Single Payment Scheme’). This system was intended
to allow for the shift from production support to producer
support.

schemes

for

deleted

Amendment 9

Recital 8 a (new)

(8a)
Information and infrastructure measures in the context
of rural development must play a prime role in the shift to
producer support, whereby one aim should be to adapt
banana production and marketing to reflect various quality
standards, such as fair-trade, organic farming, and local vari-
registered geographical guarantees of
eties standards or
origin. Bananas can also be marketed as a special
local
product within the framework of existing tourism in these
areas, thereby creating a link between consumers and local
bananas as a preferred, identifiable product.

Amendment 10

Recital 8 b (new)

(8b)
In order to meet the objectives that lay at the heart of
the reform of the common agricultural policy, the support for
cotton, olive oil, raw tobacco, hops and bananas should be
largely de-coupled and integrated into the Single Payment
Scheme.

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TEXT PROPOSED
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Amendment 11

Recital 8 c (new)

Wednesday, 13 December 2006

AMENDMENTS
BY PARLIAMENT

(8c) Complete integration into the single payment scheme
of the current support scheme in the banana sector would
bring a significant risk of production disruption to the
banana producing regions of the Community. A part of the
support should therefore continue to be linked to the cultiva-
tion of bananas through a crop specific payment per eligible
hectare. The amount of support should be calculated in such
a way so as to ensure economic conditions which, in regions
which lend themselves to that crop, enable activity in the
banana sector to continue and prevent bananas from being
driven out by other crops. In order to achieve that goal, it is
justified that the total available aid per hectare per Member
State is set at 40 % of the national share of the aid that went
indirectly to the producers.

Amendment 12

Recital 8 d (new)

(8d) The remaining 60 % of the national share of the aid
that went indirectly to the producers should be available to
the Single Payment Scheme.

Amendment 13

Recital 9

deleted

(9) For sake of consistency it is appropriate abolish the
existing compensatory aid scheme for bananas and to include
it into the Single Payment Scheme. To this end it is necessary
to include the compensatory aid for bananas in the list of
direct payments in relation to the single payment scheme
referred to in Article 33 of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003.
Provision should also be made for the establishment by
Member States of reference amounts and eligible hectares
under the Single Payment Scheme on the basis of a represen-
tative period appropriate to the banana market and of appro-
priate objective and non-discriminatory criteria. Areas
planted with bananas should not be excluded due to their
being treated as permanent crops. National ceilings should be
amended appropriately. Provision should also be made for the
Commission to adopt detailed rules and any necessary transi-
tional measures.

Amendment 14

Recital 10

(10) Title II of Regulation (EEC) No 404/93 provides for
producers' organisations and concentration mechanisms. As
regards producers' organisations, the existing regime had as
objectives to form such organisations in order that as many
producers as possible be members of such organisations and
limited the payment of the compensatory aid to producers
members of recognized producers' organisations.

(10) Title II of Regulation (EEC) No 404/93 provides for
producers' organisations and concentration mechanisms. As
regards producers' organisations, the existing regime had as
objectives to form such organisations in order that as many
producers as possible be members of such organisations and
that marketing in the banana sector be supported, while
limiting the payment of the compensatory aid to producers
members of recognized producers' organisations.

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TEXT PROPOSED
BY THE COMMISSION

AMENDMENTS
BY PARLIAMENT

Amendment 15

Recital 11

(11) The regime has succeeded in its first objective since the
vast majority of Community producers are now members of
producers' organisations. The second objective is obsolete since
the compensatory aid scheme is to be abolished. It is therefore
no longer necessary to maintain rules at Community level on
producer organisations, thus leaving Member States free to
adopt such rules, if necessary, targeted at the specific situa-
tions in their territories.

(11) The regime has succeeded in its first objective since the
vast majority of Community producers are now members of
producers' organisations. It is therefore necessary to maintain
rules at Community level on producer organisations. In order
to prevent the break-up of the banana sector in producer
regions, it is proposed that a framework of Community rules
be maintained, and Member States are urged to maintain the
requirement that produce be marketed through these producer
organisations as an essential condition for receiving aid.

Amendment 16

Article 1, point 1
(Regulation (EEC) No 404/93)

(1) Titles II and III, Articles 16 to 20, paragraph 2 of
Article 21, Article 25 and Articles 30 to 32 are deleted;

(1) Articles 6 and 7 of Title II, Title III, Articles 16 to 20,
paragraph 2 of Article 21, Article 25 and Articles 30 to 32
are deleted;

Amendment 17

Article 2, point 1 (new)
Article 1, indent 3 (Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003)

(1)

schemes

In Article 1, indent 4 is replaced by the following:
for
— support

farmers producing durum
wheat, protein crops, rice, nuts, energy crops, starch
potatoes, milk, seeds, arable crops, sheep meat and
goat meat, beef and veal and grain legumes, and
for farmers maintaining olive groves and banana
plantations.

Amendment 18

Article 2, point 1
Article 33, paragraph 1, point a (Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003)

(1) In Article 33(1), point (a) is replaced by the following:

deleted

(a) they have been granted a payment in the reference
period referred to in Article 38 under at least one of
the support schemes referred to in Annex VI or, in the
case of olive oil, in the marketing years referred to in
the second subparagraph of Article 37(1), or, in the
case of sugar beet, cane and chicory,
if they have
benefited from market support in the representative
period referred to in point K of Annex VII, or, in the
case of bananas, if they have benefited from compen-
sation for loss of income in the representative period
referred to in point L of Annex VII;

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TEXT PROPOSED
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Wednesday, 13 December 2006

AMENDMENTS
BY PARLIAMENT

Amendment 19

Article 2, point 6 a (new)
Article 64, paragraph 2, subparagraphs 1 and 2 (Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003)

In Article 64(2), subparagraphs 1 and 2 are replaced

(6a)
by the following:

Depending on the choice made by each Member
2.
State, the Commission shall, in accordance with the proce-
dure laid down in Article 144(2), set a ceiling for each of
the direct payments referred to respectively in Articles 66,
67, 68, 68a, 68b and 69.
This ceiling shall be equal to the component of each type
of direct payment in the national ceilings referred to in
Article 41, multiplied by the reduction percentages applied
by the Member States in accordance with Articles 66, 67,
68, 68a, 68b and 69.

Amendment 20

Article 2, point 6 b (new)
Article 68 b (new) (Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003)

(6b) The following Article 68b is inserted:

Article 68b
Banana Payments

In the case of banana payments, 40 % of the aid shall
remain coupled to production, while the remaining 60 %
of the national share of the aid shall be available for the
Single Payment Scheme.

Amendment 21

Article 2, point 7
Article 145 d c) (Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003)

7)

the following point

in Article 145,
point (d)b):
(d)c)
support into the single payment scheme.

detailed rules relating to the inclusion of banana

is inserted after

deleted

Amendment 22

Article 3, point -1 (new)
Article 18 a (new) (Regulation (EC) No 247/2006)

(-1)

the following Article 18a is inserted:

Article 18a
Bananas

Receipt of aid for producers in the banana sector
is to be conditional on affiliation to a recognised
organisation in accordance with Title II of Regulation
(EEC) No 404/93. Such aid may also be granted to
individual producers whose particular circumstances,
especially geographical circumstances, do not enable
them to join a producers' organisation.

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TEXT PROPOSED
BY THE COMMISSION

AMENDMENTS
BY PARLIAMENT

Amendment 23

Article 3, point 2 a (new)
Article 28, paragraph 3 a (new) (Regulation (EC) No 247/2006)

(2a)

In Article 28, the following paragraph 3a is added:

3a.
In the event of a deterioration in the economic
conditions affecting the livelihoods of banana producers,
following in particular a change in the external regime,
to
the Commission shall
the
by
31 December 2009, accompanied, where necessary, by
appropriate proposals.

submit a specific

the Council

Parliament

European

report

and

Amendment 27

Article 3, point 3
Article 30 (Regulation (EC) No 247/2006)

(3)

In accordance with the same procedure, the Commission
may also adopt measures
to facilitate the transition
from the arrangements provided for in Council Regulation
(EEC) No 404/93 to those established by this Regulation.

(3)

In accordance with the same procedure, the Commission
may also adopt measures
to facilitate the transition
from the arrangements provided for in Council Regulation
(EEC) No 404/93 to those established by this Regulation.
Provision shall be made in particular for a specific
advance scheme for banana producers from January to
October every year.

Amendment 28

Article 4 a (new)

Article 4a

Assessment

submit an assessment

Three years after the entry into force of this Regulation the
to the
Commission shall
European Parliament and the Council on the impact that the
Regulation has had on the living standards of Community
farmers, on Community producers' incomes, and on economic
and social cohesion, and shall propose practical initiatives if
the original objectives have not been attained.

report

Amendment 25

Annex, point 1
Annex I (Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003)

(1)

in Annex I the row concerning bananas is deleted;

deleted

Amendment 26

Annex, point 2
Annex VI (Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003)

(2)

the following row is added to Annex VI:
Bananas — Article 12 of Regulation (ΕEC) No 404/93
— Compensation for loss of income

deleted