Activites

• 1998/11/09 Final act published in Official Journal
• 1998/10/23 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T4-0628/1998 summary

    Adopting the report by Mr John Iversen (PES, DK) on the environment and agricultural production, Parliament considers that the Commission report on the application of regulation (EEC) 2078/92 on agricultural production methods compatible with the requirements of protection of the environment and the maintenance of the countryside is not an evaluation and it is therefore impossible to make a comprehensive judgement on the effectiveness of the scheme. It hopes that the regulation's objectives will be clarified and more performance-related and that the levels of premia should be increased in some specific cases. Application of the programme has been affected by a lack of preparation and Parliament regrets that 86% of expenditure has been accounted for in five Member States and calls on the Commission to publish an evaluation report as soon as possible giving precise details of the application and impact of the programme. Parliament also considers: - that farmers should only receive specific funds if they demonstrate a commitment to the agri- environment programmes (environmental benefits must be visible and clear), - that the agri-environment programme should cover all land where farmers are making efforts to enhance the environment and be extended to less favoured areas, - that the requirement for 20 year set-aside in some cases is too long and that a more flexible variant should be introduced, - that the scheme should be widened in other ways (help with local planning, provision of advice, access to information, dissemination of research results, use of new technologies). �

• 1998/10/22 Debate in Parliament
• 1998/09/28 Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
  • A4-0345/1998
• 1998/02/16 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 1997/12/04 Non-legislative basic document published
  • COM(1997)0620 summary

    OBJECTIVE: this Commission report deals with the application of Regulation (EEC) 2078/92 on agricultural production methods compatible with the requirements of the protection of the environment and the maintenance of the countryside. SUBSTANCE: the first part of the report describes the operation of the agri-environmental regulation. The second part explains how it integrates with the common agricultural policy and the other instruments of Community policy. The third part reports on its implementation up to 1997. The last part draws a certain number of conclusions and presents recommendations taking into account the growing role occupied by agri-environmental programmes under Agenda 2000: a) the Commission intends to produce and present working documents on the following aspects of implementation of the programmes: - implementation in the Member States; - support for organic farming; - support for maintaining genetic resources; - evaluation studies and Community-funded research and studies; - training and demonstration projects; b) the Commission will continue to encourage Member States: - to make the best use of existing opportunities for integrating the agri-environment programme with structural fund programmes; - to develop non-premia programmes for disseminating information to farmers; - to implement fully those programmes which are behind schedule; c) the Commission is considering bringing forward several proposals for the adjustment of the provisions of Regulation 2078/92, including: - an improved legal framework for the non-land management measures; - a review of the system of maximum part-financible premia; - a review of the measure to reduce stock numbers to focus on low-intensity pasture management; - a review of criteria for incorporation of capital investments and landscape and historical farmland features within programmes; - a review of the measure for environmental set aside; - possibilities for the provision for part-financing from Community funds of monitoring and evaluation costs; - review of Community part-financing rates. In addition, in the context of Agenda 2000 the Commission will bring forward a proposal to strengthen agri-environmental measures within regional and zonal programmes. Finally, the Commission will investigate ways and means and terms of reference for establishing an observatory of environmentally beneficial agriculture. �

Documents

• Non-legislative basic document published: COM(1997)0620
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A4-0345/1998
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0628/1998

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)