6. 11. 97 Official Journal of the European Communities L 303/3 COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2200/97 of 30 October 1997 on the improvement of the Community production of apples, pears, peaches and nectarines 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 Par- liament (3), Whereas a feature of the Community market for apples, pears, peaches and nectarines is a certain mismatch between supply and demand; whereas this situation justi- fies the re-introduction and extension to pears of the measures to improve Community production introduced for the 1990/91 to 1994/95 marketing years as regards apples and for the 1995 marketing year as regards peaches and nectarines; Whereas the areas benefiting from this operation should be limited and the least productive orchards should be excluded from it; whereas these areas should be appor- tioned between the Member States on the basis of the orchard area, production and withdrawals of each Member State; whereas it should be possible to amend this appor- tionment to optimize the area grubbed up; whereas it is also necessary to allow the Member States to decide on the regions and conditions under which this operation shall apply so that its introduction does not disturb the economic and ecological balance of certain regions; Whereas the premium, to be paid once only, must be established by taking account of both the cost of grub- bing-up and the producer’s loss of income; Whereas the aim of the grubbing-up premium is to achieve the objectives laid down in Article 39 of the Treaty; whereas provision should be made for the measure to be financed by the Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGEF), HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 1. Apple, pear, peach and nectarine producers in the Community shall qualify, on application and under the conditions laid down in this Regulation, for a premium for the 1997/1998 marketing year, to be paid once only for the grubbing-up for apple trees other than cider apple () OJ C 124, 21. 4. 1997, p. 26. (?) Opinion delivered on 24 October 1997 (not yet published in the Official Journal). trees, pear trees other than perry pear trees, peach trees and nectarine trees. 2. The premium shall be granted for the grubbing-up of a maximum surface area of 10 000 hectares for each group of products, apples and pears on the one hand, peaches and nectarines on the other hand, divided as follows. Apples Peaches Member States and pears and nectarines (ha) (ha) Belgium 435 p-m. Denmark 30 — Germany 1100 10 Greece 640 3770 Spain 1305 1 640 France 2 820 1100 Ireland 10 — Italy 2275 3260 Luxembourg 10 — Netherlands 545 p-m. Austria 150 20 Portugal 325 200 Finland 10 — Sweden 40 — United Kingdom 305 —_ The above allocation may be amended by the Commis- sion in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 6 to optimize the area qualifying for a grub- bing-up premium, within the maximum surface area limit laid down in the first subparagraph above. 3.  The Member States: — shall designate the regions in which the grubbing-up premium is to be granted on the basis of economic and ecological criteria, — shall lay down conditions ensuring in particular the economic and ecological balance of the regions concerned, — may designate priority producer categories on the basis of objective criteria drawn up in agreement with the Commission. They shall notify these regions, conditions and, where appropriate, categories to the Commission once adopted or designated.