CELEX: 51987PC0166(02)
Language: en
Date: 1987-06-03
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC ) ESTABLISHING A FRAMEWORK SYSTEM FOR NATIONAL AIDS TO AGRICULTURAL INCOME

No C 236/8                                Official Journal of the European Communities                                    2.9.87
              Proposal for a Council Regulation establishing a framework system for national aids to agri-
                                                          cultural income
                                                        COM(87) 166 final
                                 (submitted by the Commission to the Council on 15 April 1987)
                                                          (87/C 236/05)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                              HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                                           Article 1
Economic Community, and in particular Articles 42 and
43 thereof,                                                           Member States may be authorized on the conditions laid
                                                                      down in this Regulation to grant aids to agricultural
                                                                     income, as defined in Article 1 (2) of Regulation (EEC)
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                    No . . ./87, which do not come within the scope of the
                                                                      Community system introduced by the abovementioned
                                                                      Regulation.
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-
liament,
                                                                                                Article 2
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                      1.    Articles 92 to 94 of the Treaty shall not apply to
Social Committee,                                                    the aids covered by this Regulation, with the exception
                                                                     of those referred to in Article 92 (2).
Whereas Council Regulation (EEC) N o . . 787 of
         1987 (') introduces a Community system of aids              2.     The provisions of this Regulation shall apply
to agricultural incomes intended to make it easier, by               without prejudice to other specific or sectoral
granting income aids on a transitional and degressive                Community provisions.
basis, for main-activity farmers and their families to
reach a situation where they can pursue their activity in                                       Article 3
satisfactory economic conditions;
                                                                      1.    Aids to agricultural income shall be authorized only
                                                                     if
Whereas, as regards the category of holdings in difficulty
which are unable or consider themselves unable to                    (a) they are covered by a programme drawn up by the
achieve such a situation, it is incumbent upon the                         Member State concerned in accordance with Article
Community to lay down clear rules to ensure that action
                                                                           4;
taken by the Member States with regard to aids to agri-
cultural income does not jeopardize the bases of the
                                                                     (b) the recipients fulfil the conditions set out in Article 5
common agricultural policy; whereas a positive
                                                                           (1); and
indication should be given of those situations in which,
outside the abovementioned Community system, national
aids to agricultural income may prove necessary to                    (c) they do not exceed in amount the level determined
maintain a fair standard of living for the farming                        in accordance with Article 5 (2) of this Regulation.
community, in view of the present general economic
situation and in particular of the limited opportunities             2.     Aids to agricultural income are prohibited, the
for finding work outside agriculture for the farmers                 amount of which is determined by reference to:
concerned;
                                                                     — prices,
Whereas, to that end, in order to ensure that national               — quantities of agricultural products, or
measures have the necessary transparency and that the
Community conditions designed to safeguard the                       — inputs, with the exception of labour.
Community's objectives as regards the readjustment of
markets in particular are complied with, the grant of the
income aids in question should be made subject to prior                                         Article 4
approval by the Commission of income aid programmes
drawn up by the Member States which plan to                          The programme referred to in Article 3 (1) (a), herein-
implement such measures,                                             after called 'PAIA II':
                                                                     — may be introduced as a part of a PAIA within the
                                                                          meaning of Regulation (EEC) No . . ./87 or as a
O See page 4 of this Official Journal.                                    separate programme,
 ---pagebreak--- 2.9.87                                   Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 236/9
— shall meet the requirements established in Article 3 of           The Commission shall examine in particular whether the
    that Regulation, complying however, as far as the               planned measures:
    detailed conditions for granting the aids are
    concerned, with the provisions of this Regulation,              (a) comply with the provisions of this Regulation, taking
    and in particular Article 5 thereof,                                 into account the objectives thereof; and
— shall warrant conformity with the objective that aids             (b) are consistent with the Community's objectives as
    within the scope of this Regulation may not stimulate                regards the readjustment of markets.
    agricultural production.
                                                                    3.    Within six months from receipt of a draft PAIA II
                          Article 5                                 or the amendments thereto, the Commission shall adopt
                                                                    a decision relating to their approval, provided that all the
1.    Farmers and members of their families working on              particulars referred to in Article 4 and, where appro-
the holding may receive income aid only where overall               priate, the further information referred to in the second
family income from the holding is less, per work unit,              subparagraph of paragraph 1 of this Article have been
than the average income for the area or, at the option of           supplied.
the Member State concerned, 80 % of the average
national income.                                                                               Article 7
2.    The level of the income aid per work unit shall be            The Member States shall adopt the measures required to
determined:                                                         adapt to the provisions of Articles 1 to 6, within six
                                                                    months of the entry into force of this Regulation, their
(a) by farmer and by family member working on the
                                                                    existing agricultural income aid schemes, in so far as the
     holding; and
                                                                    latter are not authorized by other specific or sectoral
(b) in such a way as to cover, at most, the difference              Community provisions.
     between:
     — the existing overall family income from the                                             Article 8
        holding divided by the number of recipients on
                                                                    Detailed rules for the application of this Regulation shall
        the holding, and
                                                                    be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down
     — the average regional income, but in no case                  in Article 9 of Regulation (EEC) N o . . ./87.
        exceeding 90 % of the average national income.
3.    As regards the definitions of the incomes referred                                       Article 9
to in this Article, the second to fourth subparagraphs of           1.     By the end of a three years' period after entry into
Article 4 (1) (b) of Regulation (EEC) No . . ./87 shall             force of this Regulation, the Commission shall submit to
apply.                                                              the Council and the European Parliament, on the basis
                                                                    of the information provided by the Member States, a
                          Article 6                                 report on the operation of the framework system
                                                                    provided for in this Regulation.
1.    "Where a Member State is planning to introduce or
amend a programme of national income aids in
                                                                    2.    After examination of that report, the Council,
accordance with this Regulation, its shall submit to the
                                                                    acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in
Commission a draft of the PAIA II or of its amendment.
                                                                    Article 43 (2) of the Treaty may decide, in the light of
The submission must include the information necessary
                                                                    experience and changes in economic conditions and in
to determine whether the conditions set out in this Regu-
                                                                    agricultural incomes, to amend this framework system.
lation are met.
At the request of the Commission, the Member State                                            Article 10
concerned shall submit any further information required.
                                                                    This Regulation shall enter into force on        1987.
2.    The Member States may not implement the
measures planned before the Commission has approved                 This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
the PAIA II concerned.                                              directly applicable in all Member States.