WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3260/98 by Yves VERWAERDE to the Commission. Compatibility of commissions decumuls (farmland management committees) with Community law
21. 7. 1999 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 207/43 (1999/C 207/056) WRITTEN QUESTION E-3255/98 by Eryl McNally (PSE) to the Commission (28 October 1998) Subject: Transference of state pensions between Member States Could the Commission tell me what plans are underway in order for people from different Member States to transfer their state pensions to a residence within another Member State? Answer given by Mr Flynn on behalf of the Commission (15 December 1998) Article 10 of Regulation 1408/71 of the Council of 14 June 1971 on the application of social security schemes to employed persons and their families moving within the Community (1) provides that invalidity and old age pensions and pensions for accidents at work acquired under the legislation of one or more Member States should not be subject to any reduction, modification, suspension, withdrawal or confiscation by reason of the fact that the recipient resides in the territory of a Member State other than that in which the institution responsible for payment is situated. This regulation is directly applicable in all Member States of the Community and the European economic area (EEA). (1) An updated version has been published in OJ L 28, 30. 1. 1997. (1999/C 207/057) WRITTEN QUESTION E-3260/98 by Yves Verwaerde (PPE) to the Commission (28 October 1998) Subject: Compatibility of commissions decumuls (farmland management committees) with Community law In France, when farmers decide to increase the acreage they farm, and the new acreage, depending on the department, is more than two or three times the statutory minimum, they must first obtain permission from a farmland management committee. Can the Commission say whether such committees exist in any other Member States, and if so, which ones? Is the existence of these committees consistent with Community law, and in particular, with the freedom of establishment principle? Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (30 November 1998) The Commission is not aware of arrangements or procedures in the other Member States comparable to the commissions de cumuls mentioned by the Honourable Member, which are used in France to control increases in the size of agricultural holdings. The Commission would point out, however, that Community legislation in general and the application of the common agricultural policy in particular do not in any way affect the powers of Member States to adopt arrangements and procedures to monitor developments on agricultural holdings, and their extension in particular, as part of a national land-use planning policy, for instance or, more specifically, as part of measures to encourage the installation of young farmers. Based on the information available to the Commission, these arrangements and procedures do not run counter to the principle of freedom of establishment