Translation of "Action en réduction du prix " (French → English) :

Reduction of the institutional support price from €632/t to €421 in two steps over three years Reduction of the minimum price for sugar beet from € 43.6/t to € 27.4 in two steps over three years Abolishing public intervention, replaced by a private storage scheme Reduction of EU production quota by 2.8 million t (from 17.4 mio t to 14.6 mio t) over four years Reduction of subsidised exports by 2 mio t (from 2.4 mio t to 0.4 mio t) New, decoupled payment for sugar beet farmers to partially compensate (60%) income l ...[+++]osses Quotas transferable between operators of different Member States Conversion scheme of € 250/t for factories leaving the sector

The proposed reduction of the intervention price for rice by 50% will narrow the gap between EU prices and world prices and thereby further liberalise the EU rice market, but it would be advisable to set direct payments at a level that would compensate producers fully for the reduction in institutional prices, thus keeping the price and market guarantee and, therefore, the profitability of growing, unchanged.

While welcoming the increased international attention paid to the tragic and immense consequences of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, malaria and tuberculosis, including the Commission’s programme for accelerated action in this field, COM(2001)0096, it is obvious that there is an urgent need for efforts far beyond this initiative – and indeed beyond the pharmaceutical industry’s lowering of prices – in order to address the pressing needs in terms of prevention as well as treatment.

As far as the reimbursement of storage costs is concerned, the Commission proposes that the amount of the monthly refund be reduced from ECU 0.52/100 kg to ECU 0.35/100 kg, to take account of the lower interest rates prevailing in the Community (See Annex - Table 2) OLIVE OIL The Commission proposes that the target price for olive oil be kept at the 1993/94 level (see Annex - Table 3) In the light of the market trend for olive oil, the Commission takes the view that the entire amount of the consumption aid, less a percentage corresponding to the amount withheld for 1993/94 for promotion schemes, should be transferred to production ai ...[+++]d, with a reduction in the intervention price by the same amount.

In the livestock sector, taking account of the external aspects, the Commission is proposing to reduce external protection for milk - reduction of target price of 3 1/2 %, beef - guide price, minus 2 1/2 %, pigmeat - basic price minus 6 %.

There are only a few exceptions to this rule and they are justified by very specific situations on the markets concerned, namely: (1) Com(89) 660 1 COM(89) - 3 - - durum wheat (-3.8%), for which the reduction is explained by the gradual alignment on the price for common wheat, - certain varieties of tobacco, for which market demand is negligible, - citrus fruit (-7.5%) , for which the Commission last year proposed a two-stage cut in the intervention price, - red wine (-1.5%), in order to arrive at a single guide p ...[+++]rice for wine (guide price for white wine is up by 1.6%).