WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2294/97 by Nikitas KAKLAMANIS to the Commission. Turkish infringement of the European Convention on Human Rights and the need for EU response
C 60/120 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 25. 2. 98 (98/C 60/202) WRITTEN QUESTION P-2293/97 by Konstantinos Hatzidakis (PPE) to the Commission (26 June 1997) Subject: Reduction in the amount of the Community premium for sheep and goats in Greece In the Commissionís reply to my Written Question P-1783/97 (1) on álower Community premiums for goats and sheepí there is evidently a misunderstanding as regards the facts on which my question was based. I was not referring to an increase in the slaughter costs for goats and sheep but to an increase in the selling price of goat and sheep meat on the European market. On the basis of that clarification and bearing in mind that the Commission accepts that there has been an appreciable overall price rise in the Community market, without saying exactly what is happening on the national, regional and local markets, particularly in Greece, I again ask the Commission to tell me on which data › how they were gathered and from which sources? › it based its finding that there was an appreciable rise in the price of goat and sheep meat even in Greece › and if so by how much? › and that the rise was such as to justify a large reduction in the premium? Finally, given the enormous difficulties which that decision creates for producers, is there any possibility of exemptions for regions where there has demonstrably not been an increase in the slaughter price for goat and sheep meat, or at least for regions which are generally problematic, such as island regions, where transport costs and production costs generally are much higher? (1) OJ C 45, 10. 2. 1998, p. 102. Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (22 July 1997) The Commission has determined for each Member State a list of representative markets that notify it each week of market prices for a ástandard qualityí that is the most representative for the production that is itself the most representative for trade in the Community as a whole. The list of markets and description of the products the prices of which are to be notified appear in Regulation (EEC) No 1481/86 of 15 May 1986 on the determination of prices of fresh or chilled lamb carcases on representative Community markets and the survey of prices of certain other qualities of sheep carcases in the Community (1), last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2344/96 of 9 December 1996 (2). For Greece the ástandard qualityí is lambs of 12 to 16 kg carcase weight. Prices are recorded at seven locations: Athens, Ioannina, Serres, Komotini, Larissa, Tripoli and Khania. In Greece the average price for the ástandard qualityí rose from ECU 373. 3/100 kg in 1995 to ECU 392. 7/100 kg in 1996, an increase of 5. 2%. The Commission would remind the Honourable Member that under the rules in force in this sector the ewe and she-goat premium is to be calculated without regard to market price differences in Member States. Since 1992 a single amount has been set that is calculated from the trend of the Community average market price for ástandard qualitiesí. The Commission has no plans to propose to the Council any change in these rules to take account of particular regional price or production cost differences. (1) OJ L 130, 16. 5. 1986. (2) OJ L 319, 10. 12. 1996. (98/C 60/203) WRITTEN QUESTION P-2294/97 by Nikitas Kaklamanis (UPE) to the Commission (26 June 1997) Subject: Turkish infringement of the European Convention on Human Rights and the need for EU response On 18 December 1996, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg held in its judgment in Loizidou v Turkey (40/1993/435/514) that, by denying the applicant access to her property in Kyrenia (occupied northern part of Cyprus), Turkey has, since 1974, been continuously in breach of Article 1 of the First Protocol of