ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
WRITTEN QUESTION E-4063/98

by Jaime Valdivielso de Cué (PPE) to the Commission

(13 January 1999)

Subject: Communications

On 26 November 1998 the Commission announced that it would not proceed further with its investigations into three mobile phone service providers, including the Spanish national telephone company Telefónica, after they had cut their connection charges for calls from fixed to mobile telephones.

Could the Commission say when the reductions will take effect as far as Spanish users are concerned?

Answer given by Mr Van Miert on behalf of the Commission

(16 February 1999)

In 1998, the Commission initiated an in-depth investigation on the possible abusive level or discriminatory nature of certain interconnection rates applied by telecommunications operators in the Community. In this framework, the Commission opened two files involving the company Telefonica de España. The first concerned the prices charged by Telefonica to Airtel for terminating the mobile calls of the latter in its fixed network. The Commission found that those prices could be excessive or discriminatory. The second concerned the revenues retained by Telefonica in the case of calls from its fixed network to a mobile network. The results of the Commission inquiry indicated that the retention applied by Telefonica was in excess of a best practice benchmark established by the Commission.

In November 1998, after having examined the relevant data provided by Telefonica, the Commission decided to close the first file. The Commission inquiry related to interconnection charges between operators and not to the charges applied to final consumers. How the cost saving resulting from the new termination charges will be passed by the relevant mobile operators to the user is a matter for their commercial strategy. The entry into operation of the third mobile telephony operator in Spain will in any case put both incumbent mobile operators under pressure to improve their current offer to their consumers.

Furthermore, the reference interconnection offer of Telefonica recently approved by the Spanish government determines that the same termination charges for calls originating from fixed network operators will apply also for calls originating from mobile network operators, which should reduce significantly the charges applied to the latter. However, the Commission cannot anticipate to what extent or when those reductions of the prices for final consumers would take place, as those depend on the competitive pressure in the market and are decided by the companies offering those services.
WRITTEN QUESTION P-3277/98

by Maartje van Putten (PSE) to the Commission

(22 October 1998)

Subject: Chad-Cameroon pipeline

At the recent meeting of the ACP-EU Joint Assembly, Commissioner Pinheiro said that the European Investment Bank had been approached by the Governments of Chad and Cameroon for financial support for a pipeline project between the two countries to be managed by Exxon. According to a DG VIII representative (speaking at a press conference about the project called by Mr Wilfried Telkämper, MEP), the Commission already strongly supports this project politically.

Will the Commission uphold that political support, in the light of the environmental and social problems the project will produce and which, according to studies carried out by the World Bank's Expert Panel and by the Netherlands Government's EIA assessors, have not been adequately addressed by Exxon's environmental impact assessment and management plans? And will the Commission be recommending Community funding for the project in any form, such as through the EDF or EIB?

Answer given by Mr Pinheiro on behalf of the Commission

(16 November 1998)

The Commission does not intend to propose Community financing for the proposed pipeline to carry Chad oil to the port of Kribi (Cameroon).

It also considers it is inconceivable to prevent such a poor country as Chad from exploiting the only resource which will give it any real revenue.

In the Commission's view, a positive approach is indicated and in-depth discussions should be initiated with the Chad authorities on measures to protect the environment and the health of those sections of the population affected by oil exploitation, to allocate a reasonable proportion of oil revenue to village communities in the oil-producing region and to protect their legitimate rights and, at a more general level, on the effective and targeted use of oil revenue to combat poverty.

The Commission would point out that the European Investment Bank (EIB) is an independent institution and has its own decision-making bodies. However, it understands that the EIB would be prepared to consider participating in the financing of the pipeline with other financial institutions such as the World Bank and that any decision it might take will take account of the answers to the social and environmental questions raised by such a project.
WRITTEN QUESTION E-3845/98

by Susan Waddington (PSE) to the Commission

(22 December 1998)

Subject: Polio and other vaccine-preventable diseases

The 1990 World Summit for Children estimated that 2 million children die each year from vaccine-preventable diseases, such as polio.

What assistance is the Union giving to the World Health Organisation's programmes aimed at eradicating such diseases? How much has the Union contributed to such programmes since 1990?

Answer given by Mr Pinheiro on behalf of the Commission

(24 February 1999)

The Community is actively involved in the financing of the first strategy of the global polio eradication programme, through the support given to primary health care facilities in 32 Sub-Saharan countries (over 250 millions euro) as well as through structural adjustment support programmes ensuring the funding of priority health budget lines (over 458 millions euro).

At the specific request of the national authorities, the Community could finance some additional expenditure linked to the global polio eradication programme. In this case, this expenditure must be included in the national health budgets.

The Community is also supporting, in close collaboration with the World health organization (WHO) regional office for Africa, the creation of an epidemiological surveillance network in West Africa (budget 500 000 euro), which is an important contribution to the fourth strategy of the global polio eradication programme.

The Community is already providing substantial support to immunisation activities, mostly in Africa, by ensuring the supply of priority vaccines, particularly polio vaccine and by developing and improving immunisation activities in primary health care facilities. A special programme "Support to reinforcing immunisation independence" in eight sub-Saharan countries (9,5 million euro) is under way. The programme aims to improve the immunisation coverage of children and young women as well as to reduce states' dependence on external financing of the expanded programme of immunisation, in particular through the promotion of its inclusion as a budget line in national health budgets.
WRITTEN QUESTION E-3853/98

by James Nicholson (PPE) to the Commission

(4 January 1999)

Subject: Abolition of duty-free sales

Has the Commission done any research into the number of jobs which will be lost as a result of the abolition of duty-free sales within the European Union?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(17 March 1999)

The European Council in Vienna asked the Commission and the Ecofin Council to examine by March the problems with regard to employment that could arise with regard to the decision of 1991 to abolish duty-free sales to intra-Community travellers.

In response to this request, the Commission has examined how the decision to abolish intra duty-free sales would impact on employment. It has also looked at possible ways of minimising potential employment problems, including the possibility of a limited extension of the duty-free regime.

The results of this examination are featured in the communication adopted by the Commission on 17 February 1999(1). The Commission's analysis shows that the impact on employment is likely to be limited and specific in terms of localities and sectors affected. It should however be noted that, in the medium term, short-term negative effects on employment could be turned into a net creation of jobs.

The Commission will be sending the communication not only to the Council but also to the Parliament. The Council discussed this issue at its meeting on 15 March 1999.

(1) Communication from the Commission to the Council concerning the employment aspects of the decision to abolish tax- and duty-free sales for intra-Community travellers (COM(99) 65 final of 17 February 1999).
WRITTEN QUESTION E-3818/98

by Concepció Ferrer (PPE) to the Commission

(22 December 1998)

Subject: Programmes and projects in the field of the environment in Catalonia

Bearing in mind the policy of transparency pursued by the Commission in relation to its spending, can the Commission say what projects implemented in Catalonia benefitted from each type of aid available in the area of the environment for the period 1994-1999?

Can the Commission further specify what amounts were finally allocated to each of the above projects?

Answer given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission

(18 January 1999)

The Commission is collecting the information it needs to answer the question. It will communicate its findings as soon as possible.
WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3069/98 by David BOWE Primates (SUPPLEMENTARY ANSWER)



Official Journal C 370 , 21/12/1999 P. 0007



WRITTEN QUESTION E-3069/98 by David Bowe (PSE) to the Commission (9 October 1998) Subject: Primates What is the Commission's policy and practice regarding EU finances being used to fund primate experiments, and what are the total amounts of EU funding expended on primate experiments for each of the following years: 1996, 1997, 1998 (to date); and how many primates does this represent?
WRITTEN QUESTION E-4041/98

by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(13 January 1999)

Subject: Transeuropean transport networks - Egnatia highway - vertical road axes

The Egnatia highway, which is currently under construction as part of the trans-European transport network, will provide an effective and operational link and, at the same time, make an essential contribution to forging closer relations between the regions on either side of the border once the vertical road axes linking it with Greece's neighbouring countries, Albania, FRYOM, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, have been completed.

What stage has been reached by the various projected sections of the vertical road axes linked to the Egnatia highway, with regard to budgeting and the necessary preparatory works, in each of the third countries concerned?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(9 March 1999)

The Commission agrees that the efficiency of the Egnatia motorway, a trans-European network priority project in Greece that is linked to pan-European corridors IV, IX and X, will be improved by the construction and operation of the vertical road axes linking Egnatia to Albania, to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and to Bulgaria. These axes will also contribute to trans-border co-operation in the area.

The Community support framework 1994-1999 for Greece, the Community initiative Interreg II and the Cohesion fund already co-finance, in Community territory, the construction of the following road axes linking Egnatia with Albania, FYROM and Bulgaria:

- Greek/Albania border: Ioannina-Kakavia and Siatista-Kristallopigi

- Greek/FYROM border: Kozani-Florina-Niki

- Greek/Bulgarian border: Thessaloniki-Serres-Promachon and Alexandroupolis-Ormenio

Work is progressing on all of these axes.

The PHARE programme co-finances the continuation of the axes Ioannina-Kakavia and Siatista-Kristallopigi up to Durres in the Adriatic Sea and the continuation of the axis Thessaloniki-Serres-Promahon up to Sofia.

In Albania, PHARE is financing the road rehabilitation from Kakavia to Gjirokaster with 15 millions euro. The contractor is expected to start the works in May 1999.

In FYROM, PHARE is financing construction on the E75 (4,6 kilometres) at Gevgelija with an amount of 6,2 millions euro. This road connects FYROM with Thessaloniki. Also on the E75, PHARE will finance the section Negotino-Demir Kapija with 30 millions euro. 11 millions euro have already been allocated by the 1997 and 1998 cross border co-operation (CBC) programmes. The balance is to be financed by the 1999 and 20 programmes. Technical design is available.

In Bulgaria, the 1998 PHARE CBC assistance was intended to improve the road between Thessaloniki and Sofia as well as the axis Alexandroupolis-Ormenio up to Haskovo.

Regarding Yugoslavia, appropriate information is not available.

The Community will of course continue its efforts to utilise all possibilities for further co-financing these links within existing and future Community instruments, in the framework of the Agenda 2000 of the period 2000-2006.
WRITTEN QUESTION E-4110/98

by Bartho Pronk (PPE) to the Commission

(14 January 1999)

Subject: EU number plates in Switzerland

1. Does the draft agreement between the European Union and Switzerland include provisions concerning the mutual recognition of the number plates issued by the European Union's Member States and Switzerland?

2. If not, does the Commission not feel that EU tourists may be at risk of being fined in Switzerland, since the Swiss authorities may continue to require tourists to display a sticker in addition to their national number plate (with the EU stars) and to enforce this requirement with fines? Such stickers are no longer used in normal traffic between EU countries.

3. What does the Commission intend to do about this situation?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(9 March 1999)

1. There is no provision covering recognition by Switzerland of number plates issued by Member States and conforming to the Annex of Council Regulation (EC) 2411/98 of 3 November 1998 on the recognition in intra-Community traffic of the distinguishing sign of the Member State in which motor vehicles and their trailers are registered(1).

2. The Council Regulation provides for recognition in intra-Community traffic of the distinguishing sign of the Member State in which motor vehicles and their trailers are registered(2).

Obviously, it does not cover Community vehicles circulating in third countries such as Switzerland. Therefore, the elliptical sticker provided by Article 37 of the Vienna Convention could be required, in principle, by the Swiss authorities.

3. The Commission has contacted the Swiss authorities asking them to recognise the distinguishing sign in line with the provisions of Regulation (EC) 2411/98. Member States will be informed as soon as the Commission gets a reply from the Swiss authorities.

(1) OJ L 299, 10.11.1998.

(2) OJ L 299, 10.11.1998.
WRITTEN QUESTION E-2694/98

by Iñigo Méndez de Vigo (PPE) to the Commission

(1 September 1998)

Subject: Forest fires in Barcelona

The fires have caused immeasurable damage. Thus far they have damaged 17 000 hectares of forest and 9 000 hectares of cropland and scrubland. Two thousand head of livestock and a large number of farms have been affected.

Is the Commission aware of the gravity of the situation? Has it formulated a strategy to provide relief to the areas affected by the fires? Has it given thought to a potential reafforestation plan for those areas? If so, what kind of Community funding could be earmarked to that end?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(29 October 1998)

The Commission is particularly concerned to protect forest resources, and it closely monitored information on the serious fires which damaged forests in the southern EU this summer. These fires not only harm people and property, they also pose a serious threat to the sustainable development of almost half Europe's forest.

The Community scheme for the protection of forests against fire - which was consolidated in 1997 - has established a coherent framework for helping Member States in their prevention efforts, while ensuring that Community-funded forestry measures - such as afforestation - are linked with protective measures in areas at risk from fire. For the period 1992-1998, 700 fire prevention projects submitted by Member States were approved for Community assistance of ECU 84 million. The Member States and the Commission work in close cooperation on the Standing Forestry Committee to run the scheme, making extensive use of the Community forest-fire information system, which has developed into an excellent means of monitoring and evaluating protective measures taken by Member States and the Commission. However, the budgetary authorities' drastic reduction of the appropriations for this specific project risks jeopardising its effectiveness.

The Guidance Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) also provides for fire prevention and reafforestation measures under a number of regional development programmes. But since Barcelona province does not form part of the Catalonia Objective 5(b) area, it is not eligible for EAGGF Guidance Section funding in respect of structural measures such as reafforestation.

However, the Cohesion Fund includes provision for restoring areas damaged by forest fires, subject to the usual requirements - in particular, that the aim of the proposed measures must be expressly environmental and that the land in question must be non-agricultural in character. It is for the Spanish authorities to take the initiative in submitting such projects for funding.

It should be borne in mind that, since 1995, the Cohesion Fund has financed reafforestation and anti-erosion projects in all the principal basins in Spain, including projects whose main aims are to prevent forest fires and regenerate areas damaged by fire. The autonomous regions and the Spanish Environment Ministry's directorate-general for nature conservation have been jointly responsible for these projects.
WRITTEN QUESTION E-3582/98

by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(3 December 1998)

Subject: Ban on the use of antibiotics in animal feed

Scientific findings discussed at a recent international medical congress in Copenhagen suggest that the uncontrolled use of antibiotics to fatten up animals and fish and for medicinal purposes poses a serious threat to the human immune system and human health.

Since consumer health protection is a matter of top priority for the EU, will the Commission say whether it intends to take immediate measures to ban the use of antibiotics in animal feed?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(4 February 1999)

As the conclusions of the conference of the World Health Organisation in October 1997 in Berlin, of the Economic and Social Committee, of the International Office of Epizootics and of the conference on the microbial threat held in Copenhagen in September 1998 have underlined, resistance to antibiotics has to be regarded as a major, complex problem of international proportions.

For their part, the Council and the Commission declared on 14 December 1998, at the meeting of Agriculture Ministers, that it was essential to prevent the development of resistance to the antibiotics used in human medicine. This statement reinforces the opinion expressed by the Commission and the Council at the meeting of Health Ministers on 12 November 1998.

It is this general concern regarding resistance to antibiotics which led the Council, acting on the precautionary principle, to adopt on 17 December 1998 the proposal(1) submitted by the Commission concerning the prohibition of four antibiotics permitted in animal feed in order to confine their use or the use of antibiotics belonging to the same family exclusively to human medicine.

At the request of the Commission, the scientific steering committee is to deliver a general opinion on the question of resistance to antimicrobic agents, taking into account the use of these substances in human and veterinary medicine, in animal feed and in the plant health sector.

(1) COM(98) 763 final.
WRITTEN QUESTION E-3848/98

by Manuel Escolá Hernando (ARE) to the Commission

(22 December 1998)

Subject: Extra stop on the Madrid-Zaragoza high-speed rail link

The 14 priority trans-European transport network projects adopted at the Essen European Council include the construction of the southern European high-speed rail link between Madrid, Zaragoza, Barcelona, Perpignan and Montpellier.

The construction of this link will reduce the journey time between Zaragoza and both Madrid and Barcelona from the current three and a half hours to a little over one hour and fifteen minutes, which will have the effect of bringing those cities considerably closer together.

However, the project does not include the possibility of having trains stop at Calatayud, a city between Madrid and Zaragoza which is currently a major rail junction and whose future development potential could be reduced if it is not included as a stop on the high-speed rail link.

In view of the fact that the high-speed rail route is due to pass fairly close to the centre of Calatayud, which is Aragon's fourth city in terms of size, population and importance, there have been calls from various quarters for the high-speed train to stop there.

Does the Commission not think that it would be logical for, if not all, at least some of the high-speed trains which will pass through Calatayud each day to stop in the city?

Would this not help to ensure that the European transport network (of which the Spanish high-speed rail link is part) also benefits people living in small or medium-sized cities which on many occasions are excluded from European projects?

Does the Commission not think that proposals such as this one contribute to European regional planning by preventing depopulation and offering development opportunities to towns which may not otherwise have any?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(1 March 1999)

The EC Treaty requires projects of common interest in the framework of the trans-European networks to be economically viable. In the case of the construction of new high-speed rail links, these projects can often reach competitivity only by reducing the travel time and stopovers between the main conurbations. The railway company has to calculate the economic viability of the project taking into account the potential market in terms of passengers between each stop. The Commission cannot influence the decision of the authorities in this respect.

The Commission agrees, however, that small and medium-sized cities should also be able to gain the maximum benefit from the trans-European high-speed network and that complementary solutions are required in order to ensure accessibility for these cities too.