PURPOSE: presentation of the Commission report on the
fruit and vegetables scheme since the 2007 reform.
BACKGROUND: producer organisations (POs) became the
cornerstone of the EU regime for the fruit and vegetables (F&V)
sector in the 1996 reform. The 2007
reform aimed to strengthen the producer organisations (POs)
further. A wider range of tools was made available to enable them
to prevent and manage market crises.
For the first time, Member States had to
establish a national strategy for sustainable operational
programmes, integrating a specific environmental
framework.
23 Member States established national strategies for
sustainable operational programmes (NSs), which include a national
framework for environmental actions (NEF). All NEFs have taken on
board amendments required by the Commission.
In 2003-2010 there was a gradual, slight
decline in the total EU area cropped with F&V (-6%) and a
sharper fall in the number of holdings with F&V crops
(-39.1%).
In 2004-2010, there was also a small fall in
the volume of F&V production in the EU (a -3% decrease in
average F&V production in 2008-2010 as compared to
2004-2006).
Market crises emerged in
2009 (e.g. peaches and nectarines, tomatoes) and in 2011 (E. coli
crisis followed by a new market crisis for peaches and nectarines).
In addition, in several Member States, the 2008 financial and
economic crisis may have affected domestic F&V consumption
(resulting in lower demand).
CONTENT: in accordance with Council Regulation
(EC) No 1234/2007, the Council presented a report on the
implementation of the provisions concerning producer organisations,
operational funds and operational programmes in the fruit and
vegetables sector since the 2007 reform.
The report is based primarily on information
Member States provided on the implementation of the EU fruit and
vegetables scheme on their territory and, in particular, on
information in the annual reports and evaluation reports sent to
the Commission. These are mainly based on data for
2008-2010.
In 2008-2010, at EU level, there were positive
trends regarding the organisation rate of the F&V sector, the
share of total F&V producers who are members of POs and the
number of POs members of APOs.
The annual reports and the 2012 evaluation
reports also offer a more contrasting picture:
Low number of producer
organisations: in
2010, there were 1599 recognised POs in 23 Member States. In 2010,
the organisation rate was about 43.0 % (43.9% if producer groups
are also included). The share of total F&V producers that are
member of POs has continued to increase (from 10.4 % in 2004 to
16.5 % in 2010).
A crucial issue is the persistently low degree
or lack of organisation in some Member States. This needs careful
analysis with a view to identifying, where appropriate,
additional measures to encourage not only: (i) a further
rise in the degree of organisation of producers in the whole EU but
also; (ii) a decrease of the imbalance of F&V producers'
organisation within the EU.
A low degree or lack of organisation also means
that most F&V producers do not belong to a PO, so they
do not directly benefit from specific EU aid for the sector. This
proportion is highest in some southern Member States and some MSs
that joined the EU in 2004 and later. Those producers, frequently
the smallest, cannot even benefit from the services that POs could
provide, have very weak bargaining power within the supply chain
and are more exposed to the risks linked to market globalisation
and climate change.
Increasing the rate of
organisation of the F&V sector remains crucial especially in Member States where
the organisation is still very low. In this respect, there is also
the need to explore measures to stimulate forms of cooperation to
help PO's and non-organised producers to better deal with those
challenges.
Contribute more to key
objectives:
operational programmes could contribute more to key objectives such
as improving attractiveness of POs, boosting products
commercial value, optimising production costs, and stabilising
producer prices.
Crisis prevention and management
instruments:
between 2008-2010, the annual expenditure for operational
programmes (EUR 1 252.1m on average) mainly concerned actions to
improve marketing (24.0 % of the total) and environmental actions
(23.8%), followed by actions to plan production (22.2 %) and to
improve or maintain product quality (20.3%).
The use of crisis prevention and
management instruments was very low (EUR 35.6m; 2.8% of total average annual
expenditure). These instruments should be improved.
Weaknesses in the setting-up of
national strategies: the reports have identified two important
weaknesses in the national strategies of some Member States: (i)
too wide a range of objectives was adopted, instead of focus on a
few priorities; (ii) precise pre-defined targets were lacking for
the different objectives set.
In most Member States, expenditure for
strategic measures, such as research and
experimental production, remains negligible. Therefore, it
could be relevant to reinforce the application of the resources
available on certain priority measures, which have a stronger
impact on competitiveness, income stability and market
demand.
Complexity of rules and lack of
legal certainty:
these elements have also been indicated as weaknesses of the
current regime. Simplification and securing the legal framework
need to be a priority in a future revision, also for reducing the
red tape for farmers and managing authorities.
Introduction of new measures for
the sector: these
might require the reallocation of some financial resources without
increasing the overall amounts available for the sector in order to
ensure the budget neutrality within market measures in pillar
1.
To address the above-mentioned shortcomings,
the current EU F&V regime needs to be reviewed to ensure
that support for producer organisations is better focused so that
it can achieve the overall objectives set for the 2007 reform and
CAP 2020 in all Member States.
The Commission could build upon the results of
this report and the upcoming debate to present at a later stage
legislative proposals to revise the Union aid scheme for the
fruit and vegetables sector.