CELEX: 51985PC0759(03)
Language: en
Date: 1985-12-18
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) ESTABLISHING A COMMON ACTION FOR THE PROMOTION OF AGRICULTURE IN THE SCOTTISH ISLANDS OFF THE NORTHERN AND WESTERN COASTS WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE WESTERN ISLES

No C 358/8                                       Official Journal of the European Communities                                              31. 12. 85
initiative or at the request of the representative of a Member                     communicated by the Commission to the Council. In that
State.                                                                             event the Commission may defer application of the measures
                                                                                   which it has adopted for not more than one month from the
2.     The chairman shall submit to the Committee a draft of                       date of such communication.
the measures to be adopted. The Standing Committee on
Agricultural Structures shall deliver its opinion on the draft                     The Council, acting by a qualified majority, may take a
within a time limit which the chairman may lay down                                different decision within one month.
according to the urgency of the matter. The opinion shall be
delivered by a majority of 45 votes, the votes of the Member
                                                                                                               Article 11
States being weighted as provided for in Article 148 (2) of the
Treaty. The chairman shall not vote.                                               This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day
                                                                                   following its publication in the Official Journal of the
3.     The Commission shall adopt measures which shall                             European Communities.
apply immediately. However, if these measures are not in
accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on                           This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly
Agricultural Structures, they shall forthwith                           be         applicable in all Member States.
                                                                          ANNEX
                                                                                                                             (million ECU)
                                                                                       Total maximum                    Total cost
                                  Measures to be financed
                                                                                         eligible cost                 to EAGGF
               1. Improvement of rural infrastructure                                        70(i)                        28
               2. Forestry improvement                                                       40(M                         16
               3. Consolidation and connected work                                             9                           3,6
                                                                               (600 ECU/ha x 15 000 ha)
               4. Measures to combat erosion                                                 40(2)                        16
               5. Drainage and other land-improvement                                        27                           10,8
                   measures                                                    (900 ECU/ha x 30 000 ha)
               6. Improvement or establishment of collective                                 10                            4
                   infrastructures to encourage farm tourism
                                                                   Total                    196                           78,4
               (') The estimate is based on experience in connection with Regulations (EEC) No 1760/78 and (EEC) No 269/79 and indicators
                   making it possible to gauge the scope of the new scheme compared with the old and establish its cost.
               (2) The calculation is based on an area of 30 000 hectares and an average cost of 1 350 ECU per hectare.
               Proposal for a Council Regulation (EEC) establishing a common action for the promotion of
               agriculture in the Scottish islands off the northern and western coasts with the exception of the
                                                                       Western Isles
                                                                   COM(8S) 759 final
                                                                      (85/C 358/03)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                                           Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                              Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament,
Economic Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 797/85 of                             Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social
12 March 1985 on improving the efficiency of agricultural                          Committee,
structures (*), and in particular Article 18 thereof,
                                                                                   Whereas Article 39 (2) (a) of the Treaty provides that, in
H O J N o L 9 3 , 30. 3. 1985, p. 1.                                               working out the common agricultural policy, account is to be
 ---pagebreak---  31. 12. 85                                Official Journal of the European Communities                                    No C 358/9
 taken of the social structure of agriculture and of the              entering management agreements to protect sites of
 structural and natural disparities between the various               particular importance or to maintain traditional farming
 agricultural regions;                                                methods;
 Whereas, in order to achieve the objectives of the common            Whereas, because of the poor farm structure and the high
 agricultural policy set out in Article 39 (1) (a) and (b) of the     rate of pluriactivity in the islands, Title I of Regulation (EEC)
 Treaty, special measures appropriate to production                   No 797/85 is not entirely appropriate;
 conditions in the less-favoured agricultural areas should be
 adopted at Community level;                                          Whereas the achievement of these aims should be promoted
                                                                      by means of a measure combining these various elements and
                                                                      applied in the context of the programmes;
 Whereas Article 18 of Regulation (EEC) No 797/85
 provides a framework for specific regional measures to               Whereas it follows from the foregoing that the measures
 stimulate agriculture as a whole, in harmony with any                referred to above constitute a common measure within the
 development schemes simultaneously undertaken in                     meaning of Article 6 of Council Regulation (EEC) No
 non-agricultural sectors and having regard to the needs of           729/70 of 21 April 1970 on the financing of the common
 environmental protection; whereas the Council, in                    agricultural policy ( 3 ), as last amended by Regulation (EEC)
 accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 43 of the         No 870/85 ( 4 );
 Treaty, shall decide on these measures;
                                                                      Whereas it is the responsibility of the Commission, having
Whereas the islands off the northern and western Scottish             consulted the Standing Committee on Agricultural
 coasts are classified as less-favoured areas within the              Structures, to decide on the approval of a programme
 meaning of Article 3 of Council Directive 75/268/EEC ( ! );          submitted by the United Kingdom Government,
 whereas the Western Isles (Outer Hebrides) already benefit
from an integrated development programme under Council
 Regulation (EEC) No 1939/81 (2);                                     HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Whereas the Scottish Islands excluding the Western Isles
 (Outer Hebrides) have particular problems in the promotion                                          TITLE I
 of agriculture due to poor soils, isolation from the mainland
leading to extra transport costs, poor farm structures,               Measures to promote agriculture in the Scottish islands off
crofting systems in some islands and low returns on farming           the northern and western coasts with the exception of the
enterprises;                                                                                     Western Isles
Whereas in these island areas the improvement of the
structure of agricultural production is essential to improve                                        Article 1
farm incomes;
                                                                      1.     In order to promote agriculture in the Scottish islands
                                                                      off the northern and western coasts with the exception of the
Whereas the promotion of agriculture needs to be
                                                                      Western Isles of Scotland (Outer Hebrides), a specific
 accompanied by the improvement of agricultural
                                                                      measure within the meaning of Article 18 (1) of Regulation
infrastructure and by investments in landing-stages and other
                                                                      (EEC) No 797/85 is hereby established.
shore facilities;
                                                                      2.     The measure shall involve the financial participation,
Whereas in these islands shelter belts are needed in order to         subject to the rules and conditions laid down in Title II, of the
protect farmsteads and farm land from the effect of the strong        European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund,
winds;                                                                Guidance Section, hereinafter called 'the Fund', in the
                                                                      agricultural measures referred to in paragraph 3 which forms
Whereas the standard of farm dwelling-houses needs to be              part of one or more programmes established by the
improved in order to encourage the population to continue to          Government of the United Kingdom or by the authorities
live in these islands;                                                designated at the relevant geographical level and approved by
                                                                      the Commission.
Whereas in order to encourage farmers and crofters to                 3.     The measures implemented in the regions concerned
develop other sources of income on their holdings,                    shall comprise:
investments for tourism and small industry projects to be
carried out on the farm should be encouraged;                         — the improvement of the structure of agricultural
                                                                          production, excluding premiums granted on a
Whereas the Council recognizes the special interest of some               unit-of-production basis,
parts of these islands for the environment; whereas it is             — the planting of windbreaks for the protection of
necessary to make provision for payments to farmers                       agriculture,
(>) OJNoL 128, 19. 5. 1975, p. 1.                                     (3) OJ No L 94, 28. 4. 1970, p. 13.
(2) OJ No L 197, 20. 7. 1981, p. 6.                                   (4) OJ No L 95, 2. 4. 1985, p. 1.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 358/10                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                    31. 12. 85
— the improvement of the agricultural infrastructure,                                             TITLE II
— investments in landing-stages and other shore facilities                           Financial and general provisions
    for the use of agricultural communities involved in
    pluriactivity,
— investments in the improvement of farm dwelling-                                               Article 4
    houses,
                                                                     1.     The duration of the common measure shall be limited
— investment for tourism and small industry projects to be           to five years as from the date of approval of the first
    carried out on the farm,                                         programme as referred to in Article 3.
— payments to farmers entering management agreements in              2.     During the fourth year, the Commission shall submit a
    favour of the protection of sites of particular importance       progress report on the common measure. Before the end of
    for the environment; these payments shall not exceed the         the five-year period, the Council shall decide, on a proposal
    real net losses or profits foregone due to the management        from the Commission, whether the measure should be
    restrictions agreed,                                             extended.
— a project team to            animate participation    in the       3.     The estimated cost of the common measure to the Fund
    programme.                                                       is 25 million ECU for the period specified in paragraph 1.
                                                                     4.     Article 6 (5) of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 shall
                                                                     apply.
                             Article 2
All programmes referred to in Article 1 (2) shall include at
least the following particulars:                                                                 Articles
1. a description of the present situation, a description of the      1.     Expenditure by the United Kingdom on the measures
     objectives to be attained and an estimate of costs and          referred to in Article 2 (2) up to a maximum amount of 62,5
     methods of financing;                                           million ECU for the period referred to in Article 4(1), shall
                                                                     be eligible for aid from the Fund.
2. a timetable for carrying out the different measures and an
     indication of the additionality due to the introduction of      2.     The Fund shall reimburse to the United Kingdom 40 %
     the common measures ensuring the participation of the           of eligible expenditure. Reimbursement on the elements for
     Fund;                                                           dwelling-houses and environmental measures shall not
                                                                     exceed 2 0 % of the total reimbursed. Similarly,
3. an indication that the actions envisaged are compatible           reimbursement for the project team shall not exceed 2 % of
     with the protection of the environment;                         the total reimbursed.
4. coordination measures with all other programmes and
                                                                     3.     Expenditure as referred to in paragraph 1 which
     provisions that could influence the development of
                                                                     benefits from Community aid under other common measures
     agriculture in the areas concerned;
                                                                     within the meaning of Article 6 (1) of Regulation (EEC) No
5. evidence that all measures foreseen in this common                729/70 or from aid under the European Regional
     measure are established in a balanced way according to          Development Fund or under the European Social Fund shall
     the structural needs of the areas concerned.                    not fall within the scope of this Regulation.
                                                                                                 Article 6
                             Article 3
                                                                     When the programme is under examination the Commission
1.     All programmes and any amendments to programmes               shall, in agreement with the United Kingdom, fix the manner
shall be forwarded to the Commission by the Government of            in which it is to be informed periodically of the progress of the
the United Kingdom. The duration of the programmes shall             programme. The United Kingdom shall at the same time
be at least that of the common measure.                              designate the bodies responsible for the technical execution
                                                                     of the programme.
2.     At the request of the Commission, the United Kingdom
Government shall provide any further information required
in addition to the particulars supplied pursuant to Article 2                                    Article 7
and especially as regards paragraph 5 thereof.
                                                                     1.     Application for reimbursement shall relate to
3.     The Commission shall deliver its opinion on                   expenditure incurred by the United Kingdom in the course of
programmes and any amendments thereto in accordance                  one calendar year and shall be submitted to the Commission
with the procedure laid down in Article 8, having consulted          before 1 July of the following year, together with the periodic
the Fund Committee on the financial aspects.                         information referred to in Article 6.
 ---pagebreak--- 31. 12. 85                                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                         No C 358/11
2.     The decision whether to grant aid from the Fund shall                     shall act by a majority of 45 votes, the votes of the Member
be taken in accordance with Article 7 (1) of Regulation (EEC)                    States being weighted as laid down in Article 148 (2) of the
No 729/70.                                                                       Treaty. The chairman shall not vote.
3.     Advance payments may be granted by the Fund on the                        3.      The Commission shall adopt the measures, which shall
basis of the financial arrangements adopted by the United                        be immediately applicable. However, if such measures are
Kingdom and in the light of progress made in implementing                        not in accordance with the opinion delivered by the Standing
the projects.                                                                    Committee on Agricultural Structures, they shall be
4.     Detailed rules for the application of this Article shall be               communicated forthwith by the Commission to the Council.
adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in                            In that case, the Commission may defer application of the
Article 13 of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70.                                        measures which it has adopted by not more than one month
                                                                                 from the date of such communication. The Council, acting
                                                                                 by a qualified majority, may adopt a different decision within
                              Article 8                                          one month.
1.     In cases where recourse is had to the procedure laid
down in this Article, the matter shall be referred to the
Standing Committee on Agricultural Structures by its                                                        Article 9
chairman either on his own initiative or at the request of the
representative of a Member State.                                                This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day
                                                                                 following its publication in the Official Journal of the
2.     The chairman shall submit a draft of the measures to be                   European Communities.
taken. The Standing Committee on Agricultural Structures
shall deliver its opinion on these measures within a time limit                  This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly
set by the chairman according to the urgency of the matter. It                   applicable in all Member States.
                                                                        ANNEX
                                                                                                                        (million ECU)
                                                                                 Total maximum                   Total cost
                                Measures to be financed
                                                                                   eligible cost                to EAGGF
                1. Improvement of structures for production                            52,5                        21,0
                   and of rural infrastructure, including the costs
                   of activating the programme ( ] )
               2. Investments to improve agricultural housing                            8,0                        3,2
                   and investments relating to tourism and
                   small-scale industries on agricultural hold-
                   ings
               3. Payments to farmers who subscribe to certain                           2,0                        0,8
                   agreements relating to environmental
                   protection
                                                              Total                    62,5                        25,0
               (') Measures for the Western Isles provided for in Regulation (EEC) No 1929/81.
               Proposal for a Council Regulation (EEC) instituting a Community programme for the development of
               certain less-favoured regions of the Community by exploiting indigenous energy potential (Valoren
                                                                     programme)
                                                                 COM(8S).838        final
                                                                   (85/C 358/04)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                                        Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 1787/84 of
                                                                                 19 June 1984 on the European Regional Development
                                                                                Fund (*), and in particular Article 7 (4) thereof,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Economic Community,                                                              (») OJNoL 169, 28. 6. 1984, p. 1.