WRITTEN QUESTION E-0058/00 by Michl Ebner (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Subsidies for feeding sugar.
24. 10. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 303 E/137 the development of voluntary agreements between cargo owners, as a measure towards improving the current international regime of compensation for damage in case of major accidental pollution. Among the actions taken by the Commission to limit the immediate environmental consequences of the Erika disaster, it facilitated assistance and at an early stage appointed a high level liaison officer on site, serving as a link between the French operational command and the foreign ships which were assisting. Following French requests, immediately passed on by the Commission, 26 kilometers of oil booms from 11 European countries as well as birdwashing machines were immediately made available. Voluntary organisations assisted in particular by taking care of polluted birds. Experts of the Community task force on marine pollution were provided on request to assist the French authorities in the evaluation of the offers of service from private companies within Europe. The task force also coordinated a number of observers from the Member States who were given the opportunity to visit the polluted site and study the response operations in order to learn from the French experience. Finally, the Commission in contact with the French ministry of the Environment is considering the possibilities to support an in-depth survey of the environmental consequences of the oil spill. This will assess the impact of the pollution and of the cleaning techniques used. The results will be of paramount importance for all those dealing with accidental marine pollution. The Commission envisages support to this survey of about 300,000 €. (2000/C 303 E/147) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0058/00 by Michl Ebner (PPE-DE) to the Commission (20 January 2000) Subject: Subsidies for feeding sugar The organisation of the sugar market which came into force in 1975 abolished Community subsidies for feeding sugar. Although the Commissionís 1997 proposals concerning Agenda 2000 envisaged a further round of agricultural policy reforms in the European Union, they did not include any recommendations concerning reform of the organisation of the sugar market, in general, and subsidies for feeding sugar, in particular. Will the Commission therefore state: ü why subsidies for feeding sugar were abolished, and ü whether the possibility exists of reintroducing Community subsidies for feeding sugar. Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (14 February 2000) Legal instruments allowing assistance to be granted for the use of sugar in animal feeding-stuffs have always existed within the legislation applicable to the common organisation of the markets in the sugar sector. For these instruments to be implemented however a number of economic conditions would have to be met and it is not considered that this is the case at the present time. Furthermore the Commission is not aware of any requests for assistance within the two sectors directly concerned