91997E2505

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2505/97 by Mark Watts (PSE) to the Commission (18 July 1997)

Subject: Common agricultural policy and rural agricultural employment

Can the Commission provide data to show that the continued decline in rural agricultural employment within the European Union has been mitigated by the application of advice and/or payments under Objectives 5a and 5b of the common agricultural policy which pertain to rural development?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (5 September 1997)

Each year sees a reduction in the agricultural workforce and the disappearance of a number of farms. In 1983, the agriculture and forestry sector still accounted for 9.3% of total employment. By 1995, this percentage had gone down to 5.5%.

There are various measures making it possible to create or maintain jobs in rural areas which are financed either under Objective 5(a), designed to accelerate the adaptation of agricultural structures as part of the reform of the common agricultural policy, or under Objective 5(b), designed to facilitate development and structural adjustment in rural areas.

Among the operations financed by Objective 5(a), start-up aid to young farmers is granted to 23 000 new entrants on average each year. The assistance granted to businesses processing and marketing agricultural and forest products helps to safeguard or create jobs in that sector. The compensatory allowances paid to farmers living in mountain or less-favoured regions help to support employment in particularly difficult areas. In 1995 more than 1 200 000 farmers benefited from this aid.

The programmes financed under Objective 5(b) aim to compensate for the continuous decline of employment in agriculture in particular by developing new small and medium-sized enterprises, rural tourism, services and the modernization of villages. In the period 1989-99, overall estimates suggest that more than 500 000 jobs will have been created or maintained in Objective 5(b) regions through Community programmes.