Agricultural aspects of the enlargement of the European Communities

Resolution 714 (1980)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 29 January 1980 (21st Sitting) (see Doc. 4467. report of the Committee on Agriculture). Text adopted by the Assembly on 29 January 1980 (21st Sitting).

Thesaurus

The Assembly,

1. Noting with satisfaction the accession of Greece to the European Communities with effect from 1 January 1981, and considering that the accession of Spain and Portugal, the arrangements for which are currently the subject of negotiations between the parties concerned, may justifiably be considered as a political certainty ;

2. Aware of the political resolve underlying the applications of the three countries and of the positive response they have met with, both of which reflect the desire to achieve a closer unity between the peoples of Europe ;

3. Considering that the three countries concerned display similarities in their economic and social make-up, and that their integration in the European Communities is likely to lead to changes in Community structures as well as in the relations of the Communities with non-member countries ;

4. Considering that a twelve-member Community will have to face further economic and social problems, and in particular when pursuing the aim of reducing surpluses and taking measures to ensure - especially in the Mediterranean region - adequate opportunities for occupational redeployment ;

5. Holding that enlarging the Communities will lead to changes in the purpose and balance of the interventions by the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (FEOGA), the scale of whose financial assistance must not be reduced ;

6. Convinced that the admission of the three Mediterranean countries can help to strengthen their democratic institutions by accelerating their economic development and favouring a greater measure of social justice ;

7. Noting that the imbalance between North and South Europe in fact derives from the gap between essentially industrial countries and essentially agricultural countries, just as the imbalance between the industrial sector and urban society on the one hand and the agricultural sector and rural society on the other is a feature of all European countries ;

8. Considering that enlargement obliges the European Communities to cope with the new task of helping new member states to reach the economic and social standard of their partners ;

9. Seeking to ensure that, in the interests of all the member states of the Council of Europe, the accession of Greece, Spain and Portugal may be brought about in such a way as to avoid negative side-effects for European countries which do not belong to the Communities, and to promote greater economic and political stability in the Mediterranean region,

10. Invites all the parties concerned :

a to adopt a new Mediterranean policy which, respecting the Rome Treaty, shall ensure an equitable sharing of the resources for supporting prices, and at the same time be capable of solving the structural problems inherent in the enlarged Community ;

b to increase the effectiveness of existing measures to improve marketing and industrialisation processes in the Mediterranean countries, particularly by providing more generous aid in favour of associations of Mediterranean fruit or vegetable producers ;

c to study a Community programme for rationalising production, which should include the improvement of the quality of Mediterranean produce, a market supporting policy which will stabilise prices at a reasonable level, measures to prevent surpluses and the deplorable wastage caused in this way, assistance in modernising production methods, and efforts to ensure a balanced distribution of agricultural production within the enlarged Community ;

d to envisage setting up, in respect of the main agricultural products, offices responsible for improving the conditions of producing and marketing those products ;

e to devote particular attention to water problems, affording priority to irrigation programmes in Mediterranean areas ;

f to co-ordinate domestic development policies with coherent and concerted policies of structural aid for agriculture, by directing Community production along lines compatible with long-term trends in supply and demand in the third world ;

g to take into account the trade flows with Council of Europe countries not members of the Communities, drawing up aid programmes within the Community, where necessary, aimed at reconverting certain areas of production, but clearly ensuring that those states are not placed in marked disadvantage as a consequence of enlargement ;

h to pursue the improvement of the living standards of the rural population as one of the common agricultural policy's fundamental aims, of vital importance to social betterment ;

i to examine the possibility of modifying the common agricultural policy, so as to reduce considerably the frustrations, disadvantages and expenses at present associated with Community management in this area.