Council Regulation (EC) No 1461/95 of 22 June 1995 amending Regulation (EC) No 1017/94 concerning the conversion of land currently under arable crops to extensive livestock farming in Portugal

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1461/95 of 22 June 1995 amending Regulation  (EC) No 1017/94 concerning the conversion of land currently under arable crops to extensive  livestock farming in Portugal
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 43  thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Having regard to the Opinion of the European Parliament  (1),
Whereas a number of problems came to light when Regulation (EC) No 1017/94  (2) was applied;  whereas that Regulation should therefore be adapted;
Whereas the redistribution of previously collectivized holdings in Portugal was in some cases  decided very late and producers whose rights were restored were not able to return the  redistributed land to its arable use prior to the deadline of 31 December 1991 and thus benefit  from the support system for producers of certain arable crops established by Regulation (EEC) No  1765/92  (3); whereas, for reasons of fairness, those holdings should be made equivalent to land  having benefited from compensatory payments;
Whereas the livestock density per hectare fixed by Regulation (EC) No 1017/94 may in the future  restrict opportunities for deriving profit from the converted land and thus reduce interest in the  conversion programme; whereas there is therefore justification in granting to producers intending  to participate in the programme the possibility of increasing that density while adhering to the  principle of increased extensification, without, however, changing the intitial rate of conversion  of land to livestock production, to retain the weighting applied under the programme;
Whereas Article 3 (3) of Regulation (EC) No 1017/94 stipulates a reduction in the number of rights  to the suckler cow premium laid down in Article 4d of Council Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 of 27 June  1968 on the common organization of the market in beef and veal  (4), where areas are converted to  the rearing of suckler cows; whereas that reduction severely penalises breeders of cows; whereas,  therefore, in order to maintain the financial equilibrium of the conversion programme, that  individual rights reduction should be replaced by an overall reduction made directly on the  regional base area in Portugal, as referred to in Article 2 of Regulation (EEC) No 1765/92, within  the maximum limit of 200  000 hectares envisaged by the conversion programme;
Whereas the amendments also require textual changes to same Articles of Regulation (EC) No  1017/94,