WRITTEN QUESTION E-2173/99 by Salvador Jové Peres (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Olive oil stocks.
8. 8. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 225 E/65 Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (26 January 2000) Law 50/1985 on regional aid measures and the provisions implementing those measures constitute regional State aid scheme No 38/87, compatible with the common market and authorised by the Commission on 1 June 1987. The purpose of the scheme is to provide financial support for productive investment in certain sectors in certain regions of Spain, granting assistance at a selective rate, so as to achieve a balanced distribution of economic activities over the country. This scheme appears, on the face of it, an appropriate instrument to support the investment project mentioned by the Honourable Member, Colisur 2000 Sociedad Limitada, because the project relates to the agri-industrial sector (flax) and is situated in Castile-La Mancha, and in view of the intensity of aid, which is 17 % of the cost. As this project involves agricultural products, it must, in addition to meeting the requirements imposed on all projects irrespective of sector of activity, comply with the Guidelines and appropriate measures for State aid in connection with investments in the processing and marketing of agricultural productsí (1), and, as it involves flax, with point 2. 12 of the selection criteria for investments annexed to Commission Decision 94/173/EC of 22 March 1994 on the selection criteria to be adopted for investments for improving the processing and marketing conditions for agricultural and forestry products and repealing Decision 90/342/EEC (2). including the analysis of each individual project and the The management of the State aid scheme, selection of the most deserving, is up to the national Government and the regional authorities in accordance with their respective responsibilities. Consequently, the Commission has no detailed knowledge of the content of individual projects in receipt of a subsidy under this scheme. However, the selection process established by the aforementioned arrangements for implementing Law 50/1985 (which were notified to the Commission in the course of authorisation) should ensure that all the aid granted is allocated to investment projects fulfilling the requirements of the national and Community legislation applicable. In the case of Colisur 2000, S. L. these requirements include the relevant selection criteria. At all events, if the Commission received evidence that the conditions of the authorised aid scheme had not been fulfilled, it would take action in accordance with the procedure laid down in Council Regulation (EC) No 659/1999 of 22 March 1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Article 93 of the EC Treaty (3). (1) OJ C 29, 2. 2. 1996, p. 4. (2) OJ L 79, 23. 3. 1994, p. 31. (3) OJ L 83, 27. 3. 1999, p. 1. (2000/C 225 E/065) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2173/99 by Salvador JovØ Peres (GUE/NGL) to the Commission (29 November 1999) Subject: Olive oil stocks Following the review of olive oil stocks, stock levels in Italy are 50 % lower than initially forecast, and in Greece approximately 30 % lower. What does the Commission consider to be the cause of this enormous shortfall? Does it intend to revise downwards the production levels forecast for both countries in the light of this development? Since the reliability of statistics will be of prime importance in the forthcoming common organisation of the market, what are the measures the Commission has taken and intends to take in order to avoid recurrence of similar situations in the future and to ensure that the new rules are fair and do not discriminate against other Member States? C 225 E/66 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 8. 8. 2000 Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (21 December 1999) In connection with the activities of the economic committee of the International Olive Oil Council (IOOC) the Councilís member states notify a certain amount of statistical data, including data on carryover stocks. The Community is a member of the IOOC and submits data relating to the Community. The Honourable Member will be aware that from 1993/94 the Community had reservations regarding the IOOCís statistics. These reservations were motivated in part by the lack of reliability of the data on the Communityís supply balance At the 81st meeting of the IOOC the Community, after much work on the feasibility of the data, presented statistics which in its view most closely reflected the actual situation. This made it possible for it to lift its reservations regarding the IOOC data. The review covered several marketing years and the supply balance statistics for the various producer Member States were adjusted where appropriate. Adjustments were also made to the Member Statesí data on consumption, stocks and production, which must be taken to mean marketed production. The quantity aided can be different because it also includes a quantity calculated for payment to small producers. After carrying out this necessary exercise in the case of data relating to the past the Commission took steps to make all the data more reliable in future. The most important of these measures are: the design of an objective method for calculating the olive yields of trees, which will help to improve knowledge of production upstream; stepping up checks at mills, particularly by introducing automatic olive weighing; and checking the destination of the olive oil produced. Lastly, working together with the producer Member States, the Commission is stepping up checks at all stages of the production chain and is making sure that the rules, concerning both the quantity of olive oil produced and its quality, are complied with. (2000/C 225 E/066) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2177/99 by Monica Frassoni (Verts/ALE) to the Commission (29 November 1999) Subject: Property speculation at Is Arenas The protected area in the locality of Is Arenas (Oristano, Sardinia) is entered on the register of sites of Community importance coming within the Natura 2000 network (Bioitaly) under site code ITB 002228 pursuant to the directive on natural habitats, Directive 92/43 (1), and was funded by LIFE-Natura in 1995. That area, comprising wooded coastal sand dunes of great importance, is also subject to the following national or regional restrictions: a landscape planning restriction pursuant to Article 7 of Law 1497/1939, Ministerial Decree 27. 8. 1980 and Article 1 of Law 431/1985; a restriction on change of use and a requirement to comply with the crop-planting and conservation plan laid down in Royal Decree Law 3267/1923 (reform and amendment of the legislation on woodlands); and a hydrogeological restriction pursuant to Article 17 of Law 215 13. 2. 1993. It is also an area coming within the proposal for the demarcation of the boundaries of the Sinis-Montiferru regional nature park, table A, annexed to Regional in 1997 the region of Sardinia signed a Programme Law 31/89. Despite these protective restrictions, Agreement with the Is Arenas company for the construction of a tourist complex involving half a million cubic metres of concrete, 222 900 m3 of which is now being built, and has issued various planning permissions leading in the first instance to the felling of approximately 10 000 trees. The whole project, which is to consist of a residential tourist village for more than 6 000 people including service roads, golf impact assessment courses and other facilities, does not appear to have undergone an environmental pursuant to Directives 85/337/EEC (2) and 97/11/EC (3). The Court of Justice recently ruled that in the case of projects listed in Annex II to the above-mentioned directives, and the projects planned in Is Arenas come within that annex, a Member State does not have the power to exclude or exempt a project from the environmental impact assessment procedure where it has significant effects on the environment, by virtue inter alia of its nature, size or location (4)