Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-02-22-Speech-2-296"
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"en.20050222.15.2-296"2
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".
The common organisation of markets in the sugar sector fixes sugar production quotas by Community region. The authorities of the Member States allocate these quotas to their sugar-producing undertakings. It is for each undertaking to decide and organise its production between one or more processing plants according to its own criteria.
The fact that an undertaking closes one of its factories and concentrates its production in only one processing plant – as is the case in Ireland – does not modify its quota or decrease its total production. Irish farmers will therefore be able to continue producing the same quantities of sugar beet as before the closure.
Concentration and rationalisation of production is a common feature of industrial restructuring and, for sugar, reflects the trend over the last ten years, where the number of factories almost halved within the EU of 15.
The quota transfer across Member States was presented by the Commission's communication on the sugar reform in July 2004 to increase the competitiveness of the European sugar sector. It would allow the more competitive undertakings to acquire the quotas of those undertakings that decide to close after the reform, and thus to adjust to the lower price in the market.
The inefficient producers would be able to sell the quotas and thereby reap some of the value of the quotas. If nobody is interested in buying the quotas in the same Member State or other Member States, the undertaking can apply for conversion aid, which should help to cover the costs of restoring good environmental conditions for the factory site and of redeploying the labour force.
Discussions in the Council and Parliament show very strong concern on the part of a number of Member States and stakeholders with regard to the possibility of trans-national quota transfer. In this connection, the Commission needs to underline that the competitiveness of the European sugar industry has to be increased in order to ensure a sustainable, long-term basis for sugar production within the European Union. Transferring quotas between Member States is one way of ensuring this. Alternative and complementary solutions are not to be ruled out and are also being analysed."@en1
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