REPORT on the proposal for a Council regulation opening tariff quotas for imports into Bulgaria and Romania of raw cane sugar for supply to refineries in the marketing years 2006/2007, 2007/2008 and 2008/2009

22.3.2007 - (COM(2006)0798 – C6‑0003/2007 – 2006/0261(CNS)) - *

Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development
Rapporteur: Friedrich-Wilhelm Graefe zu Baringdorf

DRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION

on the proposal for a Council regulation opening tariff quotas for imports into Bulgaria and Romania of raw cane sugar for supply to refineries in the marketing years 2006/2007, 2007/2008 and 2008/2009

(COM(2006)0798 – C6‑0003/2007 – 2006/0261(CNS))

(Consultation procedure)

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to the Commission proposal to the Council (COM(2006)0798)[1],

–   having regard to Article 37(2) of the EC Treaty, pursuant to which the Council consulted Parliament (C6‑0003/2007),  

–   having regard to Rule 51 of its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the report of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (A6‑0072/2007),

1.  Approves the Commission proposal as amended;

2.  Calls on the Commission to alter its proposal accordingly, pursuant to Article 250(2) of the EC Treaty;

3.  Calls on the Council to notify Parliament if it intends to depart from the text approved by Parliament;

4.  Asks the Council to consult Parliament again if it intends to amend the Commission proposal substantially;

5.  Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and Commission.          

Text proposed by the Commission	Amendments by Parliament
Amendment 1 Article 1, paragraph 3 a (new)
	3a. From the marketing year 2009/10, no tariff quotas shall be allocated other than in relation to Council Regulation (EC) No 2501 of 10 December 2001 applying a scheme of generalised tariff preferences for the period from 1 January 2002 to 31 December 20041 (the 'Everything But Arms' Regulation) and preferential market access for African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States.   ___________ 1OJ L 346, 31.12.2001, p. 1.
Justification
This derogation should be explicitly restricted to a definite period of time in order to achieve the reduction of sugar quantities in line with the reform of the common market organisation in sugar.

• [1]  Not yet published in OJ.

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

The main aims of the reform of the European common market organisation in sugar (Regulation 318/2006/EC), adopted in July 2006, were to reduce the mounting quantities of sugar in the EU, to adapt the market to domestic sugar consumption and, in so doing, to improve market balance for sugar. It is intended that the quantity of sugar produced in the EU should be reduced to the extent that sugar can be imported duty-free under the Everything But Arms initiative, which will be fully in force in 2009, alongside the existing preferential imports from ACP countries and India and from the Western Balkan countries, without the import quantities exceeding consumption. As yet, this objective has been only partially achieved. Only a third of the restructuring fund provided for by the restructuring scheme, whereby premium payments are issued as an incentive for the sugar industry to reduce quotas, has been used. The Commission must now consider further administrative measures to meet the requirements of the sugar market reforms. Under these circumstances, any derogations liable to increase the quantity of sugar produced in the EU, such as the import of raw cane sugar under favourable conditions, should be tightly regulated.

In the Commission's view, based on traditional supply needs the respective sugar industries in Bulgaria and Romania should be granted a two-year period in which they may import sugar at a preferential duty of EUR 98 a tonne in order to offset any unfairness towards the new Member States following their accession and to allow the sugar sector in both countries to stabilise its position on the internal market. The reduced duty corresponds to the level fixed for CXL concessions sugar during Finland's accession negotiations. The CXL quota should also apply for a restricted period of time, in order to ensure consistency in the common organisation of markets.

For the above reasons, and in order to guarantee fair competition in the Union's sugar sector and the fixing of definitive import rules, the possibility of importing sugar at preferential duties should apply for a clearly restricted period of time. The amendment tabled by the rapporteur proposes a possible time limit.

PROCEDURE

Title	Tariff quotas for imports into Bulgaria and Romania of raw cane sugar
References	COM(2006)0798 - C6-0003/2007 - 2006/0261(CNS)
Date of consulting Parliament	4.1.2007
Committee responsible        Date announced in plenary	AGRI 17.1.2007
Rapporteur(s)        Date appointed	Friedrich-Wilhelm Graefe zu Baringdorf 19.12.2006
Discussed in committee	23.1.2007		26.2.2007		21.3.2007
Date adopted	21.3.2007
Result of final vote	+: –: 0:	30 0 0
Members present for the final vote	Peter Baco, Sergio Berlato, Niels Busk, Luis Manuel Capoulas Santos, Giuseppe Castiglione, Dumitru Gheorghe Mircea Coşea, Albert Deß, Michl Ebner, Carmen Fraga Estévez, Jean-Claude Fruteau, Ioannis Gklavakis, Bogdan Golik, Friedrich-Wilhelm Graefe zu Baringdorf, Atilla Béla Ladislau Kelemen, Heinz Kindermann, Diamanto Manolakou, Véronique Mathieu, Neil Parish, Radu Podgorean, María Isabel Salinas García, Agnes Schierhuber, Alyn Smith, Marc Tarabella, Donato Tommaso Veraldi, Andrzej Tomasz Zapałowski
Substitute(s) present for the final vote	Christa Klaß, Albert Jan Maat, Zdzisław Zbigniew Podkański, Brian Simpson, Struan Stevenson