Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-04-14-Speech-5-103"
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"en.20000414.5.5-103"2
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"Mr President, I would like to inform the honourable Member that the Commission is quite aware of the extensive problems caused by the hurricanes at the beginning of December 1999 in Denmark and Sweden and at the end of December 1999 in France and Germany, the devastating effect on the entire forestry industries of these countries and the implications for those employed in the industry. May I refer you to Mr Barnier’s speeches at the plenary sitting of 18 January 2000, when he stressed that the Commission would willingly employ every available means to assist the Member States.
Nevertheless, with regard to forest damage, I must also remind you that the European Parliament, notably in its resolution of 31 January 1997 on the forestry strategy of the European Union, and also the Council of the European Union, have repeatedly stressed that the Treaty does not lay down any specific competence for a Union forestry policy. Thus, the European Union does not have the necessary means to intervene in the way stipulated by the two resolutions. In effect, timber is not among the products listed in Annex I of the Treaty. There is no legal framework and timber cannot therefore be governed by a specific market policy, even temporarily. Although such actions are theoretically possible under WTO regulations, well-defined, solid legal, economic and commercial grounds would be necessary to persuade our trading partners to accept them. To date, the Commission has not received a detailed analysis justifying its taking such a step. I will come back to this point in a moment.
It is therefore, first and foremost, national aid to the timber industry which is the most appropriate means, at national, regional or local level, of supporting the worst affected forestry sites in the industry, and the Member States have to decide on the procedures for providing this aid. The Commission is therefore currently assessing the national aid systems notified to it by the national governments for alleviating the effects of hurricanes on the forestry sector according to the effects on competition at European level. The departments of the Commission are assessing these aid systems, particularly in the light of Article 87(2b) of the Treaty, which governs the compatibility of the aid envisaged by the Member States in the event of natural disasters.
The aid programmes notified by the French Government do, in fact, contain a general measure supporting the windfall transportation which may result in some of the timber being transported to countries outside the Union. The Commission stresses that Article 87, paragraph 2b of the Treaty does not constitute an exemption from GATT regulations as such, and we and our legal departments are assessing the compatibility of this measure with the Treaty on the basis of recent information. The French authorities may be requested to provide further information.
With regard to the joint financing of aid programmes proposed by Member States under Article 30 of Regulation EC/1257/99 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF), I would further stress that the Commission is prepared to be extremely flexible. However, it is first of all up to the Member States to amend their initial programmes. In the meantime, two Member States, including France, have presented their adapted programmes, which now include a substantial section on bolstering the forestry industry following the storms at the end of 1999. In this context, actions are proposed for the removal, storage, transportation, protection and replenishment of the devastated forests in order to support the sector. These dossiers are currently under negotiation between the Commission and the Member States, but I can state here and now that the Commission’s attitude is favourable."@en1
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