Liogier, A.

Archive of European Integration

11 February 197 5 English Edition I ; . ./ ; I (/ ... ~ j European Communities EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT Working Documents 1974-1975 DOCUMENT 373/74/Rev. Report drawn up on behalf of the Committee on Agriculture on the proposal from the Commission of the European Communities to the Council ( Doc. 317/74) for a regulation on th~ allocation for 197 4 of appropriations from the Guidance Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund and certain final dates for the years 1974 and 1975 Rapporteur : Mr A. LIOGIER Pe 38.874/fin./Rev. By letter of 21 October 1974, the President of the ~o~ncil of the European Communities requested the European Parliament, pursuant to Article 43 of the EEC Treaty, to deliver an opinion on the proposal from the Commission of the European Communities to the Council for a regulation (EEC) of the Council on the allocation for 1974 of appropriations from the Guidance Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund and certain final dates for the years 1974 and 1975. On 30 October 1974, Parliament referred this proposal to the Committee on Agriculture as the committee responsible an~ to the Committee on Budgets for its opinion. On 4 November 1974, the Committee on Agriculture appointed Mr Liogier rapporteur. It considered this proposal at its meeting of 21 Ncvember 1974. At the same meeting the committee adopted the motion for a resolution by 12 votes to 1. Present: Mr Vetrone, vice-chairman and acting chai~man; Mr Liogier, rapporteur; Mr Baas, Mr Della Briotta, Mr De Keersmaeker, Mr Frehsee, Mr Fruh, Mr Hansen, Mr Howell, Mr Hunault, Mr De Koning, Mr Ligios, Mr Scott-Hopkins. At its meeting of 23 and 24 January 1975, the Committee on Agriculture heard and approved a statement by the rapporteur listing the changes he had been obliged to make to certain statistics included in the explanatory statement following additional information from the Co~unission of the European Communities. These changes did not affect the motion for a resolution or the actual content of the report. The opinion of the Committee on Budgets ist attached. - 3 - PE 38.874/fin./rev. C O N T E N T S Page A. MOTION FOR A RESOLU'l'ION • . . . . . . . . • . . . • . . . . . • . . . . • • • • . . • • . . . 5 B. EXPLANATORY STATEMENT 6 Opinion of the Committee on Budgets . . . . • . . . . • • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 - 4 - PE 38.874/fin./rev. A The Committee on Agriculture hereby submits to the European Parliament the following motion for a resolution together with explanatory statement: MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION embodying the opinion of the European Parliament on a proposal for a regulation (EEC) of the Council on the allocation for 1974 of appropriations from the Guidance Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund and certain final dates for the yearsl974 and 1975 The European Parliament, - having regard to the proposals from the Commission of the European Communities to the Council (COM(74) 1579 final), - having been consulted by the Council pursuant to Article 43 of the Treaty establishing the EEC (Doc. 317/74), - having regard to the report of the Committee on Agriculture and the opinion of the Committee on Budgets (Doc. 373/74/rev.), 1. Approves in principle the Commission's proposal; 2. Regrets once more the delays that have held up the decisions to be taken by the Commission of the European Communities on the requests for aid under the Guidance Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Gurantee Fund and deplores the harm thus caused to agriculture in the Community; 3. Instructs its President to forward this resolution and the report of its committee to the Council and Commission of the Europenn Communities. - 5 - PE 38.874/fin./rev. 1 2 B EXPLANATORY STATEMENT 1. A proposal for a regulation on aid from the Guidance Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund in 1974 and on certain final dates for the years 1974 and 1975 has been referred to the Committee on Agriculture as the committee responsible. The purpose of the proposal is twofold: - the allocation for 1974 of EAGGF (Guidance Section) appropriations; - the putting back of certain final dates for submitting requests for aid from the Fund. I. The allocation for 1974 of EAGGF (Guidance Section) apuropriations 2. Article 1 of the draft regulation states that Guidance Section appro-priations available for the year 1974 amount to 325,000,000 u.a. It should be remembered that this amount was laid down in Regulation No. 729/70 of 27 April 1970 of the Council1 ,which set the ceiling for Guidance Section ex-penditure at 325, OOO, OOO u.a. per annum. The Committee on Agriculture has always expressed reservations on this ceiling. Guidance Section 'appropriations are in fact very small when one considers the importance of the agricultural structural policy and compares them with the expenditure required to finance the organization of the agricultural markets. Such being the case, Article 1 of the proposal in ques~ion proposes that the appropriations available for 1974 should be allocated as follows2: A. 3. 21,538,103 u.a. should be used to finance measures required under Community regulations - fruit and vegetables producers group •...•.•.••...• 4,000,000 u.a. - premiums for slaughtering cows and for withholding milk and milk products from the market 7,073,483 u.a. - grubbing-up grant for fruit trees •.....•...•••••.• _6, 952,518 u. a. - fishery producers group 12,102 u.a. - settlement of balances for previous years ........ . 3 I .500,QQQ u. a. Total 21,538,103 u.a. 4. The regulations in question were adopted by the Couucil between 1969 and 1972 and were the subject of opinions delivered by Parliament. OJ No. L 94, 28 April 1970 On the basis of estimates of expenditure received from Member States - 6 - PE 38.874 /fin. /rev. B. 5. 1]21 QQQ1 000 u.a. should be used to finance individual Eroject~ as defined in Regulation No. 17/64/EEC of 5 February 19641. 6. Originally, 1701 000i000 u.a. were proposed. As 1,473 requests for aid, amounting to 660,000,000 u.a. were made in 1974, only 25% of them could be met by the 170,000,000 u.a. Because of the importance of the aid requested, the amount was increased to 235i00.Q..i000 u. a. by adding: - 33il001 000 u. a. taken from the appropriations entered under Chapter 87 of the 1974 budget to cover expenditure on joint schemes and special measures: - 41,135.1178 u.a. taken from the appropriations entered under Chapters 81, 82, 84 and 89 of the 1974 budget for joint schemes and special measures. As the Commission points out, these appropriations cannot be used in full, since the requests amount to only 27,264,822 u.a., which releases the 41,135,178 u.a. mentioned above. 7. Altogether, the financing of individual projects can be broken down as follows: - Original amount ...........•........•....•...... , ..• - Amount taken from Chapter 8 7 ...................... . - Amount taken from Chapters 81, 82, 84 and 89 •..•..• - Amount withheld as a safety margin balance: 170,000,000 u.a. 33,100,000 u.a. 41,135,178 u.a. 244,235,178 u.a. - 9,235,178 u.a. 8. It should be stressed immediately that,as the requests for aid amounted to 660,000,000 u.a., the amount earmarked for their financing will not meet even 50Yo of the aid requested. The amount withheld, i.e. 9,235,178 u.a. is intenc.ed to meet any expenditure in excess of actual claims for reimburseme:11.t by Member States. C. 9. Finally, __ the remainder, amounting to 59,226,719 u.a. should be used to finance Community measures constituting common measures within the me,ming of Article 6 of Regulation No. 729/70 of the Council of 27 April 19702 This amount includes an appropriation of 1 2 50,000,000 u.a. for financing development operatiots in high-priority agricultural areas. These allocations prompt the following comments; OJ No 34, 27 February 1964. OJ No L 94, 28 April 1970. - 7 - PE 38.874/fin./rev. 10. - The way in which the allocation of appropriations is presented in the Commission's explanatory memorandum is summary and lacks clarity. In fact, the text submitted to Parliament mentions only two amounts: total appropriations (325,000,000 u.a.) and appropriations for individual projects (235,000,000 u.a.). Moreover, the comments on the proposed transfers of appropriations from one Chapter to anoth~r deserve further amplification. So that it may be able to deliver an informed opinion, Parliillnent requests the Commission to submit in future. a fuller and more detailed explanatory memorandum. 11. - The Commiss __ on proposes to allocate 235,000,000 u. a. :>f the Guidance Section's total annual appropriations of 325,000, OOO u. a. for the financing of individual prQjects in 1974. Althoush this amount is higher than that for last year, it should be noted thRt, as mentioned above, it will cover only part of the aid requestsd which, according to the Commission, amounts to 660,000,000 u.a. Th~s being so, the fact that appropriations allocated for the financing of individual projects represent two-thirds of total Guidance Sect1.on appropriations is due to the still insufficient number of common structural measures. Certain common measures, including the 1972 directives on agricultural reform, are being implemented only slowly. In its opinion on the report on the draft general budget of the European Sommunities for 19741 , the Committee on Agriculture pointed out that 'the breakthrough to a common structural policy in May 1971 raised hopes that supplementing the market and price policy by a structural policy based on Community criteria would lead to a gradual improvement of agricultural structures and to a more balanced market as a result of some reorganization of production. ' The Committee on Agriculture hopes that the structural policy, given its importance as a supplement to the cor,unon agricultural policy, will quickly become effective. 12. - Since 1969, Guidance Section appropriations have been regularly~~! aside for the Community financing of joint projects in accordance with 1 Regulation No 729/70 on the improvement of structures. The amount set aside in 1973 was 46,000,000 u.a. The total r.:~serve accrued since 1969 arromted to 53§_, 525.L 700 u. a. as at 31 December 1973. The Commission has not envisaged the setting up of such a reserve for 1974, assuming that the reserve accrued will make it possible to meP.t foreseeable expenditure in the coming years. See report drawn up on behalf of the Committee on Budgets by Mr Pounder (Doc. 231/73) 12 November 1973). - 8 - PE 38.874/:fin./rev. 13. The Corrunittee on Agriculture has on several occasions objected to these reserves - the legal status of which is not clear - since they are in the hands of the Member States, not of the Community, although the latter is the legal owner. They represent a considerable sum, however, which remains unused and is subject to continur,us devaluation as a result of monetary erosion. The Corrunittee on Agriculture therefore requests the Commission to inform it in what circumstances these appropriations will be used. Parliament itself has continually requested in the intervening years that they s~ould be used in fn11 and as soon as possible for the reform of agricultural structures. II. Putt:.ing~ack of certain final_dates _for ap.21.j,catj,gns_for ai_g._from _ _!:.h.§ EAGGF_Guidance Section 14. In Articles 2 and 3 it is proposed that: - the final date as specified in the second sentence of the first sub-paragraph of Article 20(1) of Regulation No 17/64/EEC for a decision by the Commission on applications for aid for 1974 from the Guidance Section of the Fund submitted to it before the dates i,pecified in Article 2 of Regulation No 429/74 of 18 February 1974, extending for i.:he years 1972, 1973 and 1974, certain time limits for granting aid fn.xn the EAGGF, should be postponed from 31 December _ _1974 to _:H_Jul_y 1975. 15.- the final date as specified in the first sentence of the first sub-paragraph of Article 20(1) of Regulation No 17/64/EEC for the submission of applications for aid from the EAGGF Guidance Section in respect of applications for aid for 1975 should be postponed from 1 October 1974 to 1- JUfl~_l. 9 7 __?. 16. These are in fact requests for deferral which are made every year and have now become a permanent feature. The deadl.ines fixed in Regulation No 17/64 have never been met since tlie regulation came into force, in other words, since 1964. The delays were due partly to the fact that the depart-ments of the EA.GGF were una"i..,le to consideration to applications or alloc"l. aid 1Jecause of shortage of staff and partly to the considerable increa;:;e :rn applications for aid (from 226 in 1964 to l,4i3 in 1974). It is also true that each year part of the delay has been made up. Nevertheless, extended deadlines and delay in granting aid have deprived the interested parties of appropriations for improvements .in the agricultural sector. Further-more, the cost of the projects continually increases because of the delay in implementing them. The Corrunittee on Agriculture therefore urges once more that every possible effort be made to avoid delays operating to the disad-vantage of recipients of aid. 0 0 0 ·- 9 - PE 38.874/fin. /rev. 17. Bearing in mind the reservations expressed in the course of the above explanatory statement, the Committee on Agriculture invites the European Parliament to deliver a favourable opinion on the proposal for a regulation submitted to it. - 10 - PE 38. 874 /tin/rev. OPINION OF THE COMMITTEE ON BUDGETS Draftsman Mr Vernaschi On 25 November the Committee on Budgets appointed Mr Vcrnaschi draftsman. It considered the draft opinion at its meeting of 25 No-vember and adopted it unanimously. Present: Mr Petre, acting chairman; Mr Vernaschi, draftsman; Mr Artzinger, Mr Boano, Mr Cointat, Mr Fabbrini, Mr Gerlach, Mr Lagorce, Mr Lautenschlager, Lord Lothian, Mr Schmidt, Mr Shaw and Mr Terrenoire. - 11 - PE 38.874/fin./rev. 1. The aim of this proposal is - to allocate the appropriations of the Guidance Section of the EAGGF for 1974: - and to defer certain final dates for the submission of req~ests for aid from the Fund. 2. As regards the first aim, the Commission proposes to allocate, for 1974, 235 million u.a. out of the 325 million u.a. of the annual appropriation for the financing of individual projects. Although this fact should be welcomed, ·t should also be noted that such an allocation, which is quite a substantial one for individlial projects, is only possible because an insufficient number of common measures have as yet been decided upon. If this were not the case, a greater proportion of the 325 million u.a. of the annual appropriation would be allocated to common me~sures, as provided for in the basic regulation. 3. As regards the deferment of the final dates for the granting of EAGGF aid from the Guidance Section (which deals with applications for aid}, the Committee on Budgets must once more express its reservations, such deferment having become an annual practice. CONCLUSIONS 4. The following summary of the above constitutes the conclusioraof this opinion: The Committee on Budgets considers that the allocation of the 325 million u.a. from the Guidance Section for 1975, as proposed by the Commission, is the result of an insufficient number of common measures to be financed. It recalls also that, in considering the budget of the Communities for 1975, Parliament adopted a proposed modification with a view to withdrawing 100 million u.a. from the Mansholt reserve for financing individual projects which it wished to see changed into common measures. 5. As regards the deferments of the final dates for the granting of aid from the EAGGF' Guidance Section, the Committee on Budgets greatly deplores the fact that these are requested every year and are thus becoming a habit. - 12 - PE 38.874/fin./rev. 

Report
drawn up on behalf of the Committee on Agriculture
on the proposal from the Commission of the European Communities to the
Council (Doc. 317/74) for a regulation on the allocation for 1974 of
appropriations from the Guidance Section of the European Agricultural Guidance
and Guarantee Fund and certain final dates for the years 1974 and 1975. EP Working Document, Document 1974-1975 373/74/Rev., 11 February 1975

Logier, A.

2 December 1974 \. 1 English Edition European Communities EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT Working Documents 1974-1975 DOC. 373/74 Report drawn up on behalf of the Committee on Agriculture on the proposal from the Commission of the European Communities to the Council (Doc. 317 /74) for a regulation on thf llocation for 1974 of appropriations from the Guidance Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund and certain final dates for the years 1974 and 1975 ,, Rapporteur: Mr A. LOGIER PE 38.874/fin. I\ I By letter of 21 October 1974, the President of the Council of the European cornrnunit.Les requested the European Par1iament pursuant to Article 43 of tho EE:C Treaty to deliver an opinion on the proposal from the Commission of the European Communities to the Council for a regulation (EEC) of the Council on the allocation for 1974 of appropriations from the Guidance Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund and certain final dates for the years 1974 and 1975. The President of the European Parliament referred this proposal to the Committee on Agriculture on 30 October 1974 as the committee responsible and to the Committee on Budgets for its opinion. On 4 November 1974, the Committee on Agriculture appointed Mr Liogier rapporteur. It considered this proposal at its meeting of 21 November 1974. At the same meeting the committee adopted the motion for a resolution by 12 votes to 1. Present: Mr Vetrone, vice-chairman and acting chairman; Mr Liogier, rapporteur; Mr Baas, Mr Della Briotta, Mr De Keersmaeker, Mr Frehsee, Mr FrUh, Mr Hansen, Mr Howell, Mr Hunault, Mr De Koning, Mr Ligios and Mr Scott-Hopkins. The opinion of the Committee on Budgets is attached. - 3 - PE 38.874/fin. C O N T E N T S A. MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION . ................................ . 5 B. EXPLANATORY STATEMENT . ................................. . 7 Opinion 0£ the Committee on Budgets 12 - 4 - PE 38.874/fin. 1 A The Committee on Agriculture hereby submts to the European Parliament the following motion for a resolution together with explanatory statement: MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION embodying the opinion of the European Parliament on the proposal from the Commission of the European Communities to the Council for a regulation on the allocation for 1974 of appropriations from the Guidance Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund and certain final dates for the years 1974 and 1975 The European Parliament, - having regard to the proposals from the Commission of the European Communities to the Council 1 , - having been consulted by the Council pursuant to Article 43 of the Treaty establishing the EEC (Doc. 317/74), - having regard to the report of the Committee on Agriculture and the opinion of the Committee on Budgets (Doc. 373/74), 1. Approves in principle the Commission's proposal; 2. Regrets once more the delays that have held up the decisons to be taken by the Commission of the European Communities on the requests for aid under the Guidance Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund and deplores the harm thus caused to agriculture in the Community; 3. Instructs its President to forward this resolution and the report of its committee to the Council and Commission of the European Communities. OJ No. C 134, 31 October 1974, p.25 - 5 - PE 38 .874 /fin. B EXPLANATORY STATEMENT 1. A proposal for a regulation on aid from the Guidance Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund in 1974 and on certain final dates for the years 1974 and 1975 has been referred to the Committee on Agriculture as the committee responsible. The purpose of the proposal is twofold: - the allocation for 1974 of EAGGF (Guidance Section) appropriations; - the putting back of certain final dates for submitting requests for aid from the Fund. I. The allocation for 1974 of EAGGF (Guidance Section) appropriations 2. Article 1 of the draft regulation states that Guidance Section appro-priations available for the year 1974 amount to 325,000,000 u.a. It should be remembered that this amount was laid down in Regulation No. 729/70 of 27 April 19701 of. the Council, which set the ceiling for Guidance Section ex-penditure at 325,000,000 u.a. per annum. The Committee on Agriculture has always expressed reservations on this ceiling. Guidance Section appropriations are in fact very small when one considers the importance of the agricultural structural policy and compares them with the expenditure required to finance the organization of the agricultural markets. Such being the case, Article 1 of the proposal in question proposes that the appropriations available for 1974 should be allocated as follows2: A. 3. ~].,oqg..Looo u.a. en:tered in·th_E;l budget should :Oe used to finance measures r~quired under Community regulations (the corresponding amount for 1973 was 31,000,000 u.a.) - fruit and vegetables producers group .•..•........• - premiums for slaughtering cows and for withholding milk and milk products from the market - grubbing-up grant for fruit trees ............••..• _ improvements in the citrus fruit sector ••.•..•.... - fishery producers group Total 4,000,000 u.a. 8,000,000 u.a. 11,000,000 u. a. 17,000,000 u. a. 1,000,000 u. a. 41,000,000 u. a. 4. The regulations in question were adopted by the Council between 1969 and 1972 and were the subject of opinions delivered by Parliament. OJ No. L 94, 28 April 1970 2 On tbe basis of estimates of expenditure derived from data from the Member States - 7 - PE 38.874 /fin. B. 5. 135~000,000 u.a. should be used to finance individual projects as defined in Regulation No. 17/64/EEC of 5 February 19641 (the corres-ponding amount for 1973 was 170,000,000 u.a.) 6. Originally, 17Q,OOO,OOO ~..:.E· were proposed. As 1,473 requests for aid, amounting to 660,000,000 u.a. were made in 1974, only 25% of them could be met by the 170,000,000 u.a. Because of the importance of the aid requested, the amount was increased to 235t000,000 u.a. by adding: - 33,100,000 u.a. taken from the appropriations entered under Chapter 87 of the 1974 budget to cover expenditure on joint schemes and special measures; - 37,4QQ.L.9QO ~- taken from the appropriations entered under Chapters 81, 82, 84 and 89 of the 1974 budget for joint schemes and special measures. As the conunission points out, these appropriations could not be used in full, since the requests amounted to only 34,500,000 u.a., which released the 37,400,000 u.a. mentioned above. 7. Altogether, the financing of individual projects can be broken down as follows: - Original amount .........•.•....•...•....•••.....•.• 170,000,000 - Arnoun t taken from Chapter 8 7 ....•.........•.....•.. 33,100,000 - Amount taken from Chapters 81, 82, 84 and 89 ..••... 37,400,000 240,500,000 - Amount withheld as a safety margin - 5,500,000 balance: 2 3 2L OOO, OOO u. a. u. a. u. a. u. a. u. a. u.a. 8. It should be stressed immediately that as the requests for aid amounted to 660,000,000 u.a., the amount earmarked for their financing will not meet even 50% of the aid requested. The 5,500,000 u.a. withheld will be used to meet possible requests from Member States for repayment in excess of appropria-tions. C. 9. Finally, the remainder, amounting to 49,000,000 u.a. should be used to finance Community measures constituting common measures within the meaning of Article 6 of Regulation No. 729/70 of the Council of 27 April 1970. (The corresponding amount for 1973 was 124,000,000 u.a. of which 46,000,000 u.a. represented reserves). These allocations prompt the following comments: l OJ No 34, 27 February 1964. - 8 - PE 38.874/fin. 10. - The way in which the allocation of appropriations is presented in the Commission's explanatory memorandum is summary and lacks clarity. In fact, the text submitted to Parliament mentions only two amounts: total appropriations (325,000,000 u.a.) and appropriations for individual projects (235,000,000 u.a.). Moreover, the conunents on the proposed transfers of appropriations from one Chapter to another deserve further amplification. So that it may be able to deliver an informed opinion, Parliament requests the Commission to submit in future a fuller and more detailed explanatory memorandum. 11. - The Commission proposes to allocate 235,000,000 u.a. of the Guarantee Section's total annual appropriations of 325,000,000 u.a. for the financing of JDdivi§ual _ _EE.Qject~ in 1974. Although this amount is higher than that for last year, it should be noted that, as mentioned above, it will cover only part of the aid requested which, according to the Commission, amounts to 660,000,000 u.a. This being so, the fact that appropriations allocated for the financing of individual projects represent two-thirds of total Guidance Section appropriations is due to the still insufficient number of common structural measures. Certain common measures, including the 1972 directives on agricultural reform, are being implemented only slowly. In its opinion on the report on the draft general budget of the European Communities for 19741 , the Committee on Agriculture pointed out that 'the breakthrough to a common structural policy in May 1971 raised hopes that supplementing the market and price policy by a structural policy based on Community criteria would lead to a gradual improvement of agricultural structures and to a more balanced market as a result of some reorganization of production.' The Committee on Agriculture hopes that the structural policy,given its importance as a supplement to the common agricultural policy, will quickly become effective. 12. - Since 1969, Guidance Section appropriations have been regularly ~et ~§l§~ for the Community financing of joint projects in accordance with Regulation No 729/70 on the improvement of structures. The amount set aside in 1973 was 46,000,000 u.a. The total reserve accrued since 1969 airomted to _238, 52j.L 70.Q_g..!..9. as at 31 December 197 3. The Commission has not envisaged the setting up of such a reserve for 1974, assuming that the reserve accrued will make it possible to meet foreseeable expenditure in the coming years. 1 See report drawn up on behalf of the Committee on Budgets by Mr Pounder (Doc. 231/73) 12 November 1973). - 9 - PE 38.874/fin. 13. The Committee on Agriculture has on several occasions objected to these reserves - the legal status of which is not clear - since they are in the hands of the Member States, not of the Community, although the latter is the legal owner. They represent a considerable sum, however, which remains unused and is subject to continuous devaluation as a result of monetary erosion. Parliament itself has continually requested in the intervening years that they should be used in full and as soon as possible for the reform of agricultural structur,es. II. Put~i~ack of certain final dates for aJ?.21.ications for aid from the EAGGF Guidance Section 14. In Articles 2 and 3 it is proposed that: - the final date as specified in the second sentence of the first sub-paragraph of Article 20(1) of Regulation No 17/64/EEC for a decision by the commission on applications for aid for 1974 from the Guidance Section of the Fund submitted to it before the dates specified in Article 2 of Regulation No 429/74 of 18 February 1974, extending for the years 1972, 1973 and 1974, certain time limits for granting aid from the EAGGF, should be postponed from 31 December 1974 to 31 July 1975. 15.- the final date as specified in the first sentence of the first sub-paragraph of Article 20(1) of Regulation No 17/64/EEC for the submission of applications for aid from the EAGGF Guidance Section in respect of applications for aid for 1975 should be postponed from 1 October 1974 to 1 June 1975. 16. These are in fact requests for deferral which are made every year and have now become a permanent feature. The deadlines fixed in Regulation No 17J64 have never been met since the regulation came into force, in other words, since 1964. The delays were due partly to the fact that the depart-ments of the EAGGF were unable to give consideration to applications or allocate aid because of shortage of staff and partly to the considerable increase in applications for aid (from 226 in 1964 to 1,473 in 1974). It is also true that each year part of the delay has been made up. Nevertheless, extended deadlines and delay in granting aid have deprived the interested parties of appropriations for improvements in the agricultural sector. Further-more, the cost of the projects continually increases because of the delay in implementing them. The Committee on Agriculture therefore urges once more that every possible effort be made to avoid delays operating to the disad-vantage of recipients of aid. 0 0 0 -10 - PE 38.874/fin. 17. Bearing in mind the reservations expressed in the course of the above explanatory statement, the Committee on Agriculture invites the European Parliament to deliver a favourable opinion on the proposal for a regulation submitted to it. - 11 - PE 38. 874 /fin. OPINION OF THE COMMITTEE ON BUDGETS Draftsman: Mr Vernaschi On 25 November the Committee on Budgets appointed Mr Vernaschi draftsman. It considered the draft opinion at its meeting of 25 November and adopted it unanimously. Present: Mr Petre, acting chairman; Mr Vernaschi, draftsman; Mr Artzinger, Mi Boano, Mr Cointat, Mr Fabbrini, Mr Gerlach, Mr Lagorce, Mr Lautenschlager, ·J Lothian, Mr Schmidt, Mr Shaw and Mr Terrenoire. - 12 - PE 38.874/fin. 1. The aim of this proposal is - to allocate the appropriations of the Guidance Section of the EAGGF for 1974; - and to defer certain final dates for the submission of requests for aid from the Fund. 2. As regards the first aim, the Commission proposes to allocate, for 1974, 235 million u.a. out of the 325 million u.a. of the annual appropriation for the financing of individual projects. Although this fact should be welcomed, it should also be noted that such an allocation, which is quite a substantial one for individual projects, is only possible because an insufficient number of common measures have as yet been decided upon. If this were not the case, a greater proportion of the 325 million u.a. of the annual appropriation would be allocated to common measures, as provided for in the basic regulation. 3. As regards the deferment of the final dates for the granting of EAGGF aid from the Guidance Section (which deals with applications for aid), the Committee on Budgets must once more express its reservations, such deferment having become an annual practice. CONCLUSIONS 4. The following summary of the above constitutes the conclusioraof this opinion: The Committee on Budgets considers that the allocation of the 325 million u.a. from the Guidance Section for 1975, as proposed by the Commission, is the result of an insufficient number of common measures to be financed. It recalls also that, in considering the budget of the Communities for 1975, Parliament adopted a proposed modification with a view to withdrawing 100 million u.a. from the Mansholt reserve for financing individual projects which it wished to see changed into common measures. 5. As regards the deferments of the final dates for the granting of aid from the EAGGF Guidance Section, the Committee on Budgets greatly deplores the fact that these are requested every year and are thus becoming a habit. - 13 - PE 38.874/fin. 

Report
drawn up on behalf of the Committee on Agriculture
on the proposal from the Commission of the European Communities to the
Council (Doc. 317 /74) for a regulation on the allocation for 1974 of
appropriations from the Guidance Section of the European Agricultural Guidance
and Guarantee Fund and certain final dates for the years 1974 and 1975. EP Working Document, Document 1974-1975 373/74, 2 December 1974

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