REPORT on the proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) amending Council regulation 2686/94 establishing a special system of assistance to traditional ACP suppliers of bananas (COM(96)0033 - C4-0187/96 - 96/0028(SYN))

31 May 1996

Committee on Development and Cooperation
Rapporteur: Mr Bernard Castagnède

By letter of 11 March 1996 the Council consulted Parliament, pursuant to Articles 189c and 130w of the EC Treaty on the proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council regulation 2686/94 establishing a special system of assistance to traditional ACP suppliers of bananas.

At the sitting of 27 March 1996 the President of Parliament announced that he had referred this proposal to the Committee on Development and Cooperation as the committee responsible and the Committee on Agriculture and the Committee on Budgets for their opinions.

At its meeting of 22 February 1996 the Committee on Development and Cooperation had appointed Mr Bernard Castagnède rapporteur.

It considered the Commission proposal and the draft report at its meeting of 29 May 1996.

At that meeting it adopted the draft legislative resolution unanimously.

The following took part in the vote: Kouchner, chairman; Stasi, Fassa, vice-chairmen; Castagnède, rapporteur; Aldo, Cunningham, Günther, Kinnock, Liese, Martens, McGowan, Nordmann, Pettinari, Salafranca (for Anoveros Trias de Bes).

The opinion of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development will be published separately. The opinion of the Committee on Budgets is attached.

The report was tabled on 31 May 1996.

The deadline for tabling amendments will be indicated in the draft agenda for the relevant part-session.

A LEGISLATIVE PROPOSAL - DRAFT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION

Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council regulation 2686/94 establishing a special system of assistance to traditional ACP suppliers of bananas (COM(96)0033 - C4-0187/96 - 96/0028(SYN))

The proposal is approved with the following amendments:

Text proposed by the Commission (1)

Amendments by Parliament

(Amendment 1)

Recital 7 (new)

Whereas the ACP-EU Joint Assembly, meeting in Windhoek (Namibia) on 22 March 1996, adopted a resolution on the common organization of the market in bananas calling for the continued fulfilment of the Community's obligations to the ACP in terms of advantages in, and access to, the EC market as agreed under Protocol 5 and Annex LXXIV of Lomé IV;

(Amendment 2)

Recital 8 (new)

	Whereas the Commission should introduce measures to provide all ACP banana supplying States with financial and technical assistance to permit them to adapt to the changing market conditions and to compensate their producers who are undergoing severe hardship as a result of the market price collapse;
	(1) OJ C092, 28.3.96, p.16

Legislative resolution embodying Parliament's opinion on the proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council regulation 2686/94 establishing a special system of assistance to traditional ACP suppliers of bananas (COM(96)0033 - C4-0187/96 - 96/0028(SYN))

(Cooperation procedure: first reading)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the Commission proposal to the Council, (COM(96)0033 - 96/0028(SYN)),[1]

- having been consulted by the Council pursuant to Article 189c of the EC Treaty and Article 130 w of the EC Treaty (C4-0187/96),

- having regard to Rule 58 of its Rules of Procedure,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Development and Cooperation and the opinions of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and the Committee on Budgets (A4-0182/96),

1. Approves the Commission proposal, subject to Parliament's amendments;

2. Calls on the Commission to alter its proposal accordingly, pursuant to Article 189a(2) of the EC Treaty;

3. Calls on the Council to incorporate Parliament's amendments in the common position that it adopts in accordance with Article 189c(a) of the EC Treaty

4. Calls for the conciliation procedure to be opened should the Council intend to depart from the text approved by Parliament;

5. Asks to be consulted again should the Council intend to make substantial modifications to the Commission proposal;

6. Instructs its President to forward this opinion to the Council and Commission.

• [1]  OJ C 092, 28.3.96, p.16

B EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

The purpose of the draft regulation is to extend the validity of regulation 2686/94 from 28 February 1996 to 31 February 1996.

According to the Commission, it is necessary to extend this regulation for two reasons:

(i) The Regulation requires that income support be calculated each year for the previous year using statistics published by the Statistical Office of the European Communities. It also requires that income support be complementary to transfers under the export earning stabilisation system (Stabex) provided for in Article 186 et seq. of the fourth ACP-EC Convention. These statistics are not available until the second quarter of each year.

(ii) To allow a reasonable length of time for projects submitted under the Regulation for technical and financial assistance to be prepared and considered for approval by the Commission.

The only amendment being proposed by the rapporteur of the Committee on Development and Cooperation is the addition of a reference to the resolution on the common organization of the market in bananas adopted by the ACP-EU Joint Assembly at its session in Windhoek on 22 March 1996. This resolution is particularly important in that it lays down the Joint Assembly's views on the future of ACP-EU relations with regard to trade in bananas, a view that reflects the attitude of the Committee on Development and Cooperation.

This committee has consistently maintained its support for protocol 5 of the Lomé Convention, including Annex LXXIV, which safeguards access for ACP traditional suppliers. It should be remembered that these suppliers are mainly small farmers working independently of the banana multinationals. ACP traditional bananas face fierce competition from 'dollar bananas' produced in Central and South America mainly by US based multinational companies, which enjoy enormous advantages of scale in production and marketing. The opening up of the Single European Market necessitated new legislative provisions at Community level to protect ACP suppliers who had traditionally enjoyed privileged access to certain EU member states.

The validity of the common organization of the market in bananas has been recognized by the Court of Justice of the European Communities and is included in the Marrakesh Agreements, though there are currently difficulties in the World Trade Organization concerning imports of dollar bananas following a complaint lodged by the USA and certain Latin American countries.

It is particularly worrying that the oversupply of bananas resulting from increased tariff quotas in excess of demand has led to a serious slump in prices on the EU market. This price reduction would be exacerbated by the concessions recently proposed by the Commission whereby the tariff quota for imports from the dollar zone would be increased and import licences for category B operators reduced.

It is of the greatest importance for the ACP traditional producers that the European Union maintain its obligations as laid down in the Banana Protocol annexed to Lomé IV. In addition, this Committee believes that the guarantees granted to ACP and EU producers under the Community regime should be extended, and insists on the level of import licences reserved for EU producers and traditional ACP suppliers being maintained at 30%.

Furthermore the committee would like to call on the Commission to set up a system that would allow ACP suppliers and EU producers to benefit in the event of growth and expansion of the EU banana market. In this respect it is important for ACP and EU suppliers to embark on an active marketing and advertising campaign aimed at increasing the size of the banana market throughout the Community. This should be assisted by the EU.

The current collapse in banana prices is causing considerable hardship to small producers. Technical assistance should be made available to permit them to adapt to the changing market conditions and to initiate compensatory measures where appropriate.

Serious difficulties are caused by the level of fraudulent imports of bananas, mainly form the dollar zone. This has been estimated at some 100,000 tonnes each year. The Member States and the Commission must reinforce customs controls so as to put an end to such illegal imports.

The Commission has just put forward proposals regarding the amendment of regulation 404/93 concerning the common organization of the market in bananas. It is most important that all changes in the banana regime be carried out in full consultation with the traditional ACP suppliers. It is clear that the economies of several small island countries, notably in the Caribbean, depend heavily on continued preferential access to the EC banana market.

In conclusion, the Committee on Development and Cooperation endorses the proposed extension of regulation 2686/94 to the end of this year, subject to the proposed amendment .

OPINION

of the Committee on Budgets

Letter from the chairman of the committee to Mr Bernard KOUCHNER, chairman of the Committee on Development and Cooperation

Brussels, 22 April 1996

Subject: Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council Regulation 2686/94 establishing a special system of assistance to traditional ACP suppliers of bananas (COM(96)0033 - C4-0187/96)

Dear Mr Chairman,

At its meeting of 22 April 1996, the Committee on Budgets considered the above proposal for a regulation.

The committee noted that this proposal extending the expiry date of the regulation in force until 31 December 1996 has no budgetary implications for the 1996 budget and is, according to the Commission, essential for the reasonable management of the budget already assigned.

That being so, the Committee on Budgets, while stressing the absence of a budgetary impact, adopted a favourable opinion unanimously.

Yours sincerely,

Detlev SAMLAND

The following were present for the vote: Samland, chairman; Böge, Bösch, Bourlanges, Brinkhorst, Fabra Valles, Giansily, Jöns (for Ghilardotti), Kellett-Bowman (for Bebear), McCartin, Pronk (for König) and Wynn.