WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1473/97 by Amedeo AMADEO to the Commission. Holidaying regional officials
Date: 1997-04-30
Institutions: AMADEO, European Parliament
Subjects: EU financing, European Social Fund, European official, Structural Funds, duties of civil servants, professional ethics, tourism, traineeship, vocational training

25. 2. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 60/21

It  should  also  be  pointed  out,  however,  that  both  the  environmental  impact  assessment  procedure  and  the
Commission’s own checks take place before a project goes ahead. In this instance, the road would already appear
to have been constructed and completed.

The project has not received Community funding.

(1)  OJ L 175, 5.7.1985.

(98/C 60/41)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1473/97

by Amedeo Amadeo (NI) to the Commission

(30 April 1997)

Subject: Holidaying regional officials

Emma  Bonino  has  stated  that  training  weekends  have  been  held  in  Brussels  to  improve  regional  officials(cid:146)
knowledge of structural fund procedures. I must point out that the Italian regions are the only ones which send
different people each time, as if it what was on offer was a holiday prize rather than a work opportunity.

Whatever it may think of such statements, will the Commission state what regions the holidaying officials come
from, and will Commissioner Bonino publish the names of the persons concerned?

Answer given by Mr Flynn on behalf of the Commission

(23 June 1997)

The Honourable Member is probably referring to training courses organised within the Commission for national
civil servants involved in the management of the Structural Funds.

These  Commission-run  courses  are  co-financed  by  the  European  Social  Fund  and  are  intended  primarily  for
national civil servants responsible for the Objective 1 Structural Funds (measures for Italy’s Mezzogiorno).

They offer civil servants a good opportunity to gain more insight into various aspects of the management of
Community resources.

The Commission does not therefore feel that it is necessary to publish the lists of participants.

(98/C 60/42)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1505/97

by Guido Podesta‘ (UPE) to the Commission

(30 April 1997)

Subject: Coal

At the Fifth Euracom Conference on the future of coal › held in Strasbourg on 17 February 1995 in connection
with the Union(cid:146)s energy policy guidelines › the Member of the Commission responsible for energy, Mr Christos
Papoutsis, declared that:

Solid  fuel  is  obviously  at  an  advantage  in  terms  of  competitiveness  and  security  of  supply  and  is  the  most
abundant and competitive source of energy available.

All the economic indicators, however, reveal that the Member States are engaged in an alarming intensive race to
cut the use of coal for electricity generation, a trend which runs blatantly counter to the decisions being taken by
the leading non-European countries.

The  current  energy  policies  of  the  Member  States  are  neglecting  coal  and  giving  priority  instead  to  more
expensive and less plentiful resources, i.e. both as regards the known reserves which can be tapped by means of
existing technologies and as regards their geographical spread.