Processed fruit and vegetable products: common organisation of the market COM

In adopting the report by Mr MIGUEL ARIAS CANETE (EPP, E), the European Parliament essentially maintained the system introduced under Regulation (EEC) No 86/426; but with regard to the negotiations between producers and the processing industry, it called for maintenance of the existing system which allows the processor to negotiate with individual producers or groups of producers provided that minimum prices are respected. Regarding production aid on products processed from tomatoes, the EP approved the maintenance of the quota system but called for more flexibility allowing for no account to be taken, in the calculation of reference quantities, of marketing years in which falls in production have occurred as a result of weather conditions. Furthermore, it called for the quantity of products processed from tomatoes and eligible for production aid to be limited to a volume of processed products corresponding to a weight of 7 400 000 tonnes of fresh tomatoes (in place of the 6 596 787 tonnes proposed by the Commission). It also called for an extension of the list of products eligible for processing aid, including apricots and asparagus.�