Agricultural measures for outermost regions and Aegean islands

Brussels, 22-11-2012 — /europawire.eu/ — Yesterday, under the Cyprus Presidency, the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) supported compromise texts agreed by the Council and the European Parliament representatives during the last trilogue concerning the regulations laying down specific measures for agriculture in the outermost regions of the EU (13575/10) and in the smaller Aegean islands (18145/10).

Both regulations provide agricultural measures that are intended to remedy the difficulties caused by the remoteness of the specific territories. In one case, it covers the following outermost regions: Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Réunion, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin, the Azores, Madeira and the Canary Islands. In the other case it covers the smaller Aegean Islands¹
facing difficulties due to their small size, their small population, their remoteness and the lack of transport lines.

These new regulations are part of the exercise of alignment of EU legislation with the Treaty of Lisbon on implementing and delegated acts (Articles 290 and 291 of the Treaty). At the same time, given that the original texts had been amended several times since their adoption, this exercise constituted an opportunity to recast the entire regulations to better reflect the current state schemes.

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¹Any Greek islands in the Aegean Sea except the islands of Crete and Evia

As regards outermost regions, the new text underscores the central role played by the Programmes of options specifically relating to the remoteness and insularity (POSEI programmes) which include the two fundamental elements: the specific supply arrangements due to the remoteness and the specific measures to assist local agricultural production.

A specific provision has been added to the regulation allowing a one-off payment of 40 millions € in 2013 in order to allow the sector of banana production in outermost regions to adapt to the reduction of banana tariffs following the latest trade agreements.

The Chairman of the SCA, for the Presidency, has sent a letter to the Chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development. This letter indicates that according to the agreement between the Council and the Parliament, once all procedural steps are completed, including a vote by the Parliament at the plenary session, the regulations regarding agricultural measures in outermost regions and small Aegean islands will be adopted by the Council and the European Parliament in the first reading.

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