Report from the Commission to the Council assessing the progress reported by Italy to the Commission and the Council on the recovery of the amount due from milk producers by virtue of the additional levy for the periods 1995/96 to 2001/02 (pursuant to Article 3 of Council Decision 2003/530/EC)

This assessment report has been produced pursuant to Article 3 of Council Decision 2003/530/EC of 16 July 2003 on the compatibility with the common market of aid that the Italian Republic intends to grant to its milk producers, in accordance with which the competent Italian authorities must report annually to the Council and the Commission on the progress made by them in recovering the amount due from the producers by virtue of the additional levy for the periods 1995/96 to 2001/02.

Under Article 1 of the Council Decision, the aid the Italian Republic grants to milk producers, by itself making payment to the European Union budget of the amount due from them to the EU by virtue of the additional levy on milk and milk products for the periods 1995/96 to 2001/02 and by allowing these producers to repay their debt by way of deferred payment over a number of years without interest, is exceptionally considered to be compatible with the common market on condition that:
– repayment is in full by yearly instalments of equal size, and
– the repayment period does not exceed 14 years, starting from 1 January 2004.

Under Article 2 of the Council Decision, the granting of the aid is conditional upon Italy declaring the total additional levy for the periods concerned to the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and upon it deducting the outstanding debt in three yearly instalments of equal size from the expenditure financed by the EAGGF for November 2003, November 2004 and November 2005 respectively. The declaration by Italy of the total additional levy for the periods concerned was duly made by letter of 26 August 2003. Deductions of the outstanding debt were duly made from expenditure financed by the EAGGF for November 2003, 2004 and 2005.

Article 3 of the Council Decision requires the competent Italian authorities to report annually to the Council and the Commission on the progress made by them in recovering the amount due from producers by virtue of the additional levy for the periods 1995/96 to 2001/02. Under that provision, the Italian authorities presented their tenth report to the Commission by letter from the AGEA (Agenzia per le Erogazioni in Agricoltura, Italian Agricultural Payments Agency) dated 27 November 2015 concerning payment of the 2014 instalment.

This report provides the Commission’s assessment of the progress reported by the Italian authorities for 2014 in recovering the additional levy both for the seven periods covered by the Council Decision and for those not covered by it.