Under Article 15 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2019/93(4) the Commission must submit an annual report to the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation of the measures and, at the end of the third year of application of the specific supply arrangements, a general report on the economic situation of the Aegean islands, showing the impact of the measures taken.

The EU contribution under that Joint Action to the OSCE mission to Georgia has been effective in ensuring the functioning of permanent secretariats for the Georgian and the South Ossetian sides, under the aegis of the OSCE, and in facilitating meetings of the Joint Control Commission (JCC) and of the Experts' Group, which are the main instruments of the conflict settlement process.

Whereas Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2505/92 of 14 July 1992 amending Annexes I and II to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff (3) contains the combined nomenclature in force at the time of the entry into force of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2019/93 of 19 July 1993 introducing specific measures for the smaller Aegean islands concerning certain agricultural products (4);

"Article 12 1. Aid shall be granted for the production of honey of specific quality from the smaller Aegean islands, containing a large proportion of thyme honey. The aid shall be paid, on the basis of the number of registered hives in production, to associations of bee-keepers recognised by the competent authorities which undertake to implement annual programmes of initiatives designed to improve the conditions under which quality honey is produced.

Whereas the measures partially funded by the EAGGF Guarantee Section and intended to offset, as regards the supply of certain Community agricultural products, the exceptional geographical situation of the smaller Aegean islands consist of benefits in the form of flat-rate aids for the supply of those products within the framework of forecast supply balances, the aids being adjusted in relation to the remoteness of the various groups of islands benefiting from them;

notwithstanding Article 5 (1) (a), the investment aid scheme provided for in Articles 5 to 9 of the abovementioned Regulation may be applied on the Aegean islands in question to farmers who, while they do not practise farming as their main occupation, derive at least 25 % of their total income from farming carried out on the holding and whose holding does not require the equivalent of more than one MWU, provided that the envisaged investments do not exceed ECU 25 000.

They must be incurred by parliamentarians or, in their absence, other such ACP representatives travelling from the country they represent in order to take part in sessions of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly, meetings of working parties or missions under their aegis, or as a result of the participation of these same representatives and representatives of ACP civil society and economic and social operators in consultation meetings held under Articles 15 and 17 of the Agreement.

A Standing Committee on the evaluation and implementation of Schengen (hereinafter "the Standing Committee") shall be set up under the aegis of the Executive Committee, firstly to establish whether all the preconditions for bringing the Convention into force in a candidate State thereto have been fulfilled and secondly to ensure that the Schengen acquis is properly applied by the States already implementing the Convention, notably by pinpointing problems and proposing solutions.

The support measures for local products for the private storage of certain local cheeses, programmes of initiatives for fruit, vegetables and flowers, and the ageing of locally produced liqueur wines have been shown to be poorly suited to the situation in these sectors on the Aegean islands due in particular to the short storage periods for the cheeses and liqueur wines and thus the negligible impact of the aid, and to the complexity of procedures and the way the proposed aid for fruit, vegetables and flowers was structured.

Notwithstanding Article 7 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 of 17 May 1999 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and amending and repealing certain Regulations(9), the total value of the aid, expressed as a percentage of the volume of eligible investments, may be increased by a maximum 15 percentage points for investments intended in particular to encourage diversification, restructuring or a move towards sustainable agriculture on agricultural holdings in the smaller Aegean islands.

The specific provisions concerning direct payments in Council Regulations (EEC) No 2358/71 of 26 October 1971 on the common organisation of the market in seeds(14), No 2019/93 of 19 July 1993 introducing specific measures for the smaller Aegean islands concerning certain agricultural products(15), (EC) No 1254/1999 of 17 May 1999 on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal(16), (EC) No 1452/2001 of 28 June 2001 introducing specific measures for certain agricultural products for the French overseas departments(17), (EC) No 1454/2001 of 28 June 2001 introducing specific measures for certain agricultural products for the Canary Islands(18) and (EC) No 2529/2001 of 19 December 2001 on the common organisation of the market in sheepmeat and goatmeat(19) have effectively lost their substance and should therefore be deleted.