WRITTEN QUESTION P-1198/01

by Theodorus Bouwman (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(4 April 2001)

Subject: Commissioner de Palacio and flax fraud in Spain

According to OLAF's as yet unpublished report on the flax fraud in Spain, Portugal and Belgium, there is clear evidence of large-scale and widespread fraud in claiming European subsidies for flax cultivation and processing. This has apparently been going on for years and has been known since the fires at certain flax warehouses in the summer of 1999(1).

As the report has not yet been published, I should like, without going into the details, to draw attention nonetheless to what the former Spanish Minister of Agriculture, Mrs de Palacio, said in reply to questions by various Members of the European Parliament, including the undersigned, at the hearings in September 1999:

I would like to clarify one thing: growing flax in Spain is not an abuse. Growing flax in Spain is legal and is carried out by thousands of Spanish farmers in accordance with Community regulations. Having said this, I was not aware of particular cases of fraud in the flax sector.

Ladies and gentlemen, all of us and myself in particular have a clear obligation to Mr Prodi: if a situation emerges similar to the one experienced by the outgoing Commission, we will resign. If I found myself in a similar situation, of course I would resign. I say it clearly: of course I would resign(2).

Does the President of the Commission agree that the large-scale fraud referred to in OLAF's report had already come to light before September 1999?

In view of the extent of the fraud and the time when it was known to have occurred, will the President investigate whether the clear obligation to Mr Prodi which Mrs de Palacio accepted on taking office is still being honoured?

If not, what will the President of the Commission do?

(1) See Financieel Dagblad, 23 January 2001.

(2) Hearings of the Commissioners-designate, verbatim record (http://www.europarl.ep.ec/hearings/com/pdf/palacio_en.pdf).

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(25 April 2001)

The Commission would point out that the two quotations taken from Ms de Palacio's hearing before Parliament on 30 August 1999, to which the Honourable Member refers, have not been given in full.

For Ms de Palacio's replies to questions by Mr Atkins and Mr Swoboda during her hearing before Parliament, the Honourable Member is referred to the full text on htpp://www.europa.eu.int/comm/hearings. The complete quotations give a clearer insight into Ms de Palacio's position on these matters.

With regard to the other points made in the Honourable Member's question, the Commission would refer him to its answers to Written Questions E-243/01 by Mr Meijer(1), E- 370/01 by Mr Tajani(2), E-379/01 by Mr Ferber(3), and P-435/01 by Mr Pomés Ruiz(4). The Commission would also point to Parliament's resolution of 4 April 2001 on the 1999 discharge approved by 422 votes to 48, in which Parliament and the Honourable Member himself express their views on the flax case in Spain.

(1) OJ C 187 E, 3.7.2001, p. 205.

(2) OJ C 235 E, 21.8.2001, p. 189.

(3) OJ C 235 E, 21.8.2001, p. 194.

(4) OJ C 235 E, 21.8.2001, p. 205.