Council Regulation (EEC) No 2080/92 of 30 June 1992 instituting a Community aid scheme for forestry measures in agriculture

COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 2080/92 of 30 June 1992 instituting a Community aid scheme for forestry measures in agriculture
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Articles 42 and 43 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (2),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (3),
Whereas the afforestation of agricultural land is especially important both from the point of view of soil use and the environment and as a contribution to reducing the shortage of forestry products in the Community and as an accompaniment to the  Community's policy for controlling agricultural production;
Whereas experience in matters of afforestation of agricultural land by farmers shows that existing aid schemes for promoting afforestation are insufficient; whereas afforestation of agricultural land withdrawn from agricultural production in recent  years has proved unsatisfactory;
Whereas, therefore, the measures provided for in Title VIII of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2328/91 of 15 July 1991 on improving the efficiency of agricultural structures (4) should be replaced by measures which provide more effective encouragement for  afforestation of agricultural land;
Whereas the eligible amounts of the costs of afforestation must correspond to the effective costs of afforestation observed in the Community;
Whereas a degressive premium for the first five years to alleviate the cost of maintenance of new woodlands may contribute significantly towards the encouragement of afforestation;
Whereas, in order to increase afforestation of agricultural land as a way of furthering the aims of the common agricultural policy (CAP), it is necessary to introduce premiums to compensate for the income loss incurred by farmers during the  non-productive period of afforested agricultural land;
Whereas, in many cases, private persons other than farmers are in a position to undertake afforestation of agricultural land and whereas provisions should be made for incentives to be offered to such persons; whereas, therefore, a premium per hectare  should be introduced for the benefit of private persons other than farmers who undertake afforestation of agricultural land;
Whereas, in many parts of the Community, afforestation of agricultural land may be undertaken by public authorities, in particular local authorities; whereas, therefore, afforestation schemes undertaken by such authorities should be supported and  reinforced;
Whereas afforestation with fast-growing species cultivated on the basis of a short felling cycle is generally fairly profitable; whereas, therefore, for afforestation with these species, it is sufficient to provide Community assistance for afforestation  costs incurred by farmers practising farming as a main occupation;
Whereas the improvement of existing farm woodlands can help to improve the incomes of persons employed in farming; whereas, in particular, because of the structure of cork production and its specific problems, measures to preserve, densify and improve  existing cork oak stands should be reinforced;
Whereas, given that the Community is to contribute to the financing of the measure, it must be able to ascertain that the implementing arrangements adopted by the Member States contribute towards the attainment of its objectives; whereas, for this  purpose, a structure for cooperation should be set up between the Member States and the Commission in the Standing Forestry Committee set up by Decision 89/367/EEC (5);
Whereas the resources available for implementing the measures provided for in this Regulation must be additional to those available for the implementation of measures under the rules governing the Structural Funds, and in particular for measures  applicable in regions covered by Objectives 1 and 5(b) as defined in Article 1 of Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88 (6),