CELEX: 31972D0248
Language: en
Date: 1972-06-22 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 22 June 1972 on granting aid for the growing of lucerne in Belgium

Official Journal of the European Communities                                    39
No L 156/ 18                          Official Journal of the European Communities                               12.7.72
                                                COMMISSION DECISION
                                                     of 22 June 1972
                                  on granting aid for the growing of lucerne in Belgium
                                                       (72/248/EEC)
                                       (Only the French and Dutch texts are authentic)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN                                   ated the procedure laid down in Article 93 (2) of
COMMUNITIES,                                                     the Treaty with respect to that measure;
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the Euro­               Whereas this financial aid granted per hectare has
pean Economic Community, and in particular the                   a direct effect on the cost of growing fresh lucerne,
first subparagraph of Article 93 (2) thereof;                    such cost being reduced by the amount of the aid,
                                                                 and whereas it consequently encourages the growing
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No                     of lucerne, when a line of cultivation which has been
827/68 0) of 28 June 1968 on the common organiza­                decreasing since 1965 in Belgium ( 1965 : 107 000
tion of the market in certain products listed in An­             metric tons; 1966 : 87 800 metric tons; 1967 : 86 300
nex II to the Treaty, and in particular Article 5                metric tons; 1968 : 80 700 metric tons; 1969 : 71 200
thereof;                                                         metric tons; 1970 : 62 000 metric tons, expressed as
                                                                 dry hay) and is thus particularly responsive to aid,
Having regard to the comments submitted by those                 especially if given in terms of quantities and prices
concerned;                                                       of products or of areas grown (hectare); whereas,
                                                                 in the light of certain figures available for gross in­
Whereas the Belgian Government, by letter of 24                  come per hectare, calculated on the basis of dry lu­
June 1971 from the Office of its Permanent Repre­                cerne (average return per hectare multiplied by the
sentative, notified the Commission, in accordance                wholesale price of dry lucerne paid to the grower
with Article 93 (3) of the Treaty, of its intention to           per metric ton), the increase in income which this
subsidize the growing of lucerne in 1971 , 1972 and              aid would procure can be estimated at approximately
 1973; whereas this aid would take the form of a                 20 % , 13 % and 6 % for the first, second and third
degressive premium of respectively 3000, 2000 and                years respectively when such aid is granted;
 1000 francs per hectare, and whereas it was provided
that such aid, because of its financial character,               Whereas such aid, because of the way in which it is
could be made available exclusively to the growers               granted, directly affects the income of growers who
notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary;                   receive it and thus improves their position, enabling
whereas this measure was laid down by an arrete                  them either to lower the selling price of the product
ministeriel on 9 September 1971 , published in the               or to grow more lucerne with, as a possible conse­
Belgium Moniteur of 2 October 1971 ;                             quence, an increase in income on account of reduced
                                                                 costs due to better use of any drying plants which
Whereas the premium is granted on the basis of a                 they operate ;
special statement made annually which had to be re­
ceived by the Office beige pour l'economie et l'agri­            Whereas aid for the growing of lucerne, by lowering
culture before 31 October 1971 for lucerne grown                 the price for fresh lucerne, may similarly affect the
in 1971 and before 15 May 1972 and 1973 respec­                  price for dry lucerne, either because the latter is
tively for lucerne grown in 1972 and 1973 ; whereas              produced directly by the growers of fresh lucerne,
the premium is paid by the communal administra­                  or because of a downward influence . exerted thereon
tions and in 1971 covered approximately 6100 hec­                by the situation of the market in that sector, even
tares ;                                                          though arrete ministeriel of 9 September 1971 de­
                                                                 creed that the premium should be made available
Whereas, having regard to the\fact that the Belgian              exclusively to the growers notwithstanding an agree­
measure to subsidize the growing of lucerne for three            ment to the contrary; whereas any increase in the
years is an operational aid, the Commission has initi­           amount of fresh lucerne grown could have a down­
                                                                 ward effect on the selling price also on account of
1 OJ No L 151 , 30.6.1968, p. 16.                                drying plants being put to fuller use;
 ---pagebreak--- 40                                 Official Journal of the European Communities
Whereas aid for the growing of fresh lucerne, by re­          ages, affect trading conditions in those products
 ducing its production costs, could lead producers of         within the Community;
 animal feed to make use of fresh lucerne in place of
other feedingstuffs; whereas a lower price for fresh          Whereas such aid distorts competition and affects
                                                              trade between Member States and whereas it there­
 lucerne, and possibly for dry lucerne, could militate        fore comes under the prohibition set out in Article
against products in market competition with lucerne,          92 ( 1 ) of the Treaty;
such as cereals, other green fodder, skimmed milk
and oil-cake ;                                                Whereas exemption from that prohibition cannot be
                                                              justified under one of the derogations provided for
Whereas the use in feedingstuffs of subsidized fresh          in Article 92 (2) and (3 ) since, in particular, the
or dry lucerne can lower the cost of production of            aid measure taken by the Belgian Government is by
 animal feedingstuffs, in direct ratio to that use, espe­     its nature and conditions an operational aid not cal­
cially where the grower of lucerne is also a stock­           culated to make for a lasting rationalization of the
breeder or fattener; whereas, in the latter case, extra       sector, either in respect of green lucerne or of dry
lucerne at a lower price can also give encouragement          lucerne meal, there being in particular no structural
 to the production of animal feedingstuffs;                   obligation on growers to reorganize ; whereas the
                                                              elimination of all aid, except investment aid, having
 Whereas the lower cost of production of animal               an effect on production is one of the guiding prin­
feedingstuffs due to the use of larger proportions of         ciples laid down by the Commission as part of the
lucerne can give a competitive advantage to pro­              agricultural aid policy and included in Council Reso­
ducers using subsidized lucerne; whereas, although            lution of 25 May 1971 1 on the new guidelines for the
in the Community lucerne meal enters into cattle              common agricultural policy;
feed in very variable proportions, generally between
0 and 30 % for bovine animals, 0 to 10 % for sows,            Whereas the granting of subsidies for the growing
3 to 4 % for poultry and 1 % for pigs, and whereas,           of lucerne is consequently incompatible with the
for Belgium such proportions are rather low, except           common market in terms of Article 92 of the Treaty,
for poultry (over 80 % of lucerne meal goes to the
feeding of poultry, in particular for- its carotin con­
                                                             HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION :
tent), an increase of these proportions in feeding­
stuffs for all animals cannot be ruled out;
                                                                                      Article 1
Whereas, although there is little trade in fresh lu­
cerne, the aid can have the effect of reducing imports        The Kingdom of Belgium shall, not later than 1 Au­
into Belgium of lucerne meal from other Member                gust 1972, abolish the aid introduced under the ar­
States (which were 60 000 metric tons in 1969 and             rete ministeriel of 9 September 197 1 2 concerning the
64 000 metric tons in 1970) and of competing pro­             granting of subsidies for the growing of lucerne.
ducts such as compound feedingstuffs, skimmed-milk
powder, maize and oil-cake (net imports of maize :
108 000 metric tons in 1969 and 117 000 metric tons                                   Article 2
in 1970, of which over 70 % , on average, was for             This Decision is addressed to the Kingdom of Bel­
animal feed; net imports of oil-cake alone, unpro­            gium.
cessed, including similar residues, amounted to
37 000 metric tons in 1969 and 31 000 metric tons
in 1970, of which 90 % , on average, was for animal           Done at Brussels, 22 June 1972 .
feed) ;
                                                                                For the Commission
Whereas such aid can therefore in proportion to its
influence on the selling price of animal feedingstuffs                             The President
or on the extension of production which it encour­                               S. L. MANSHOLT
                                                             1 OJ No C 52, 27.5.1971 , p. 1 .
                                                             2 Moniteur Beige, 2.10.1971 .