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22.9.2005 |
EN |
Official Journal of the European Union |
C 234/25 |
Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 1868/94 establishing a quota system in relation to the production of potato starch
(COM(2004) 772 final — 2004/0269 (CNS))
(2005/C 234/06)
On 20 January 2005 the Council decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee, under Article 37 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the abovementioned proposal.
The Section for Agriculture, Rural Development and the Environment, which was responsible for preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 17 February 2005. The rapporteur was Mr Konstantinidis.
At its 415th plenary session, held on 9 and 10 March 2005 (meeting of 9 March 2005), the European Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 127 votes with 7 abstentions.
1. Gist of the Commission proposal
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1.1 |
The aim of this proposal is to allocate the quota for the 2005/2006 and 2006/2007 marketing years between potato-starch producing Member States on the basis of the report from the Commission to the Council on the quota system for the production of potato starch, thus amending Regulation (EC) No. 1868/94. |
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1.2 |
It is proposed that the present quotas be maintained for the next two years. |
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1.3 |
The reason why the Commission is proposing unchanged potato starch quotas for the next two years is that it is too early to assess the effects of the reform of the CAP (i.e. of decoupling) and of enlargement of the EU on the potato starch sector. In fact, in a number of potato starch producing Member States, the CAP reform will only be implemented by 2006 (i.e. marketing year 2006-2007). |
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1.4 |
The Commission will therefore present a new report accompanied by a new proposal by 30 September 2006. |
2. General comments
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2.1 |
According to the Commission's report, EU production of potato starch remained close to the quota fixed, and total exports of cereal starch and potato starch remained relatively stable. The share of potato starch in starch production as a whole is declining, at around 20 %. As stated before, the Commission proposes a rollover of the quotas fixed for 2004/2005. Polish, Lithuanian and Czech farmers apart, most European potato starch producers support the Commission's proposal, although they would have preferred the normal prolongation period for the quota system (three years). |
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2.2 |
Whilst backing the Commission's proposal, the EESC shares the potato starch producers' concern that the timetable for the discussion and adoption of the Commission's proposal has become quite tight, especially considering that farmers will start planting seed potatoes in March 2005. The Committee therefore invites the European Parliament and the Council to take into consideration these time constraints when dealing with this proposal. |
3. Conclusions
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3.1 |
The EESC supports the Commission's proposal of extending the current quotas to the marketing years 2005/2006 and 2006/2007 and it recommends that the deadline for the assessment in view of the future proposal be strictly respected. |
Brussels, 9 March 2005.
The President
of the European Economic and Social Committee
Anne-Marie SIGMUND