WRITTEN QUESTION P-0199/00 by Mogens Camre (UEN) to the Commission. Unfair competition in prices on Danish export markets due to EU subsidy for feta cheese products.
28. 12. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 374 E/33 (2000/C 374 E/039) WRITTEN QUESTION P-0199/00 by Mogens Camre (UEN) to the Commission (31 January 2000) Subject: Unfair competition in prices on Danish export markets due to EU subsidy for feta cheese products Is the Commission aware that its subsidy policy towards feta cheese is giving an unfair price advantage to producers of ultra-filtrated feta at thereby seriously distorting competition? Does it not accept that the subsidy rate for Combi Whiteí which corresponds to the quantity of skim milk used should be reconsidered, a development which would also reward innovative companies? Finally, will the Commissions state what has become of the proposal put forward about three years ago aimed at introducing minimum prices as a condition for obtaining restitution, a requirement which would ensure that the subsidy would not distort competition? the expense of equal and competing products, Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (6 March 2000) Export refunds are fixed at the same amount for Feta cheese made from cowís milk irrespectively of the production process used. Refunds are fixed for each cheese according to the fat and the moisture content and the Commission takes into account the market situation for each individual product and the respect of the ceilings fixed by the World trade organisation (WTO) agreement. The Commission is not acquainted with a product called Combi Whiteí. Some information indicates that it would be a brand name of a product made with vegetable fat and protein. Such a product is not a dairy product and is to be treated, for export refunds purposes, as a product outside Annex I competing with cowís milk Feta. The amount of the refunds for the non Annex I products are calculated on basis of the recipe for each product. The export refunds for the dairy products, when used as components of non Annex I products, skimmed milk powder and butter, are currently 4,5 % lower than for the same dairy products exported in natural state. This difference is necessary at the moment for budgetary reasons. There is a minimum free-at-frontier price, € 230/100 kg, to be respected for cheeses falling under combined nomenclature (CN) code 0406 in order to benefit from a refund. This minimum price was set at this level in 1996 to limit the export of cheeses from the Community applying the WTO restrictions on export of cheeses with subsidies. Within the framework of traditional trade practices Feta made from cowís milk, falling under CN-code heading 0406 9033 9919, is currently exempted from the requirement to meet the minimum price. (2000/C 374 E/040) WRITTEN QUESTION P-0200/00 by Reinhard Rack (PPE-DE) to the Commission (31 January 2000) Subject: Posts at the European Commission reserved for Austrian nationals ü Grade A2 (to be specified as such) Late in 1999, the European Commission organised a competition with a view to the filling of three posts of director reserved for Austrian nationals. At the end of the subsequent selection procedure, only one of the three posts was actually filled. In the procedure for the filling of the post of director in the Directorate for Citizenship and Youth in the Directorate-General for Education and Culture, the Advisory Committee on Appointments put forward to the appointing authority the names of two candidates who duly fulfilled all the requirements for the relevant posts. Nevertheless, the Commission subsequently decided not to take the procedure for the filling of the post any further. In the third selection procedure, the Advisory Committee on Appointments failed to come up with any proposal whatsoever