12.4.2008   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 92/15

1.

Is Council Regulation (EC) No 1788/2003 (1) of 29 September 2003, which imposes an additional levy on production of milk and milk products in excess of the national quota allocated, without taking account of periodical updating of the quantity allocated to each Community country following specific verification of the respective quantities produced, compatible with Article 32 of the Treaty and with the aims of the common agricultural policy which that article sets out, such as increasing agricultural productivity, developing technical progress, ensuring rational development of agriculture and also optimising utilisation of the factors of production, in particular labour, since that mechanism also has an impact on Italian milk and milk products producers, detracting from a fair standard of living and from development as a result of inadequate remuneration of the factors of production and since Italy is in fact a milk-deficit country (see the government report cited above, paragraph 6.5), forced to import raw material to sustain the industries engaged in the processing and marketing of quality products (see the agricultural report of 15 February 2004, annexed hereto)?

2.

Is Council Regulation (EC) No 1788/2003 compatible with Article 33 EC, in so far as the latter provides for organisation of the common market yet at the same time excludes all discrimination between producers or consumers in the Community, but nevertheless the uniform application of the additional levy, without identification of those producers who are in deficit as compared with those who are producing surpluses, ultimately discriminates against Italian producers belonging to a milk-deficit country?

3.

Is Council Regulation (EC) No 1788/2003 compatible with Article 34 EC in so far as it provides that pursuit of the objectives set out in Article 33 ‘shall exclude any discrimination between producers or consumers within the Community’, whereas such discrimination is created by the regulation, which, for the purpose of the additional levy, requires a uniform contribution both from producers belonging to milk-surplus countries and from those belonging to milk-deficit countries such as Italy?

4.

Is Council Regulation (EC) No 1788/2003 of 29 September 2003 compatible with the principle of proportionality laid down in Article 5 of the Treaty in so far as the latter states that Community action ‘shall not go beyond what is necessary to achieve the objectives of this Treaty’, whereas the uniform application of the additional levy goes further than the aim of creating a common organisation of the market because it perpetuates for average Italian farmers low productivity, low income and the need for permanent reliance on public support?