WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1615/97 by José VALVERDE LÓPEZ to the Commission. Spanish involvement in agri-industrial projects
Date: 1997-05-07
Institutions: European Parliament, VALVERDE LOPEZ
Subjects: EU programme, Spain, agro-industry, management, project evaluation, research and development, research programme

25. 2. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 60/31

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

(25 June 1997)

The Commission has no data on the Cohesion Fund broken down by region.

However, it is sending direct to the Honourable Member and to the Secretariat of Parliament the annual reports
for 1994 and 1995 on the work of the Fund. Annex I to those reports contains the main points of environmental
and transport projects part-financed in Spain, including those in Andalusia.

(98/C 60/56)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1614/97

by Jose· Valverde Lo·pez (PPE) to the Commission

(7 May 1997)

Subject: Economic impact on Spanish agriculture of the negotiations on imports of agricultural products from

Egypt

Among the issues being discussed in bilateral negotiations between the European Union and Egypt is that of
imports by the EU of Egyptian agricultural products. Egypt is said to be seeking to export produce to the value of
ECU 1.5 billion per year, including 750 000 tonnes of potatoes, 300 000 tonnes of oranges, 475 000 tonnes of rice
and 30 000 tonnes of flowers.

Has the Commission assessed the impact on Spanish agriculture of these agreements?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(17 June 1997)

The Honourable Member refers to the negotiations held by the Commission with Egypt since 1995 for a new
Euro-Mediterranean  agreement.  The  different  views  concerning  the  reciprocal  concessions  on  agricultural
products  constitute  at  present  an  important  obstacle  to  the  progression  of  the  negotiations.  The  Commission
believes that the Egyptian requests go beyond traditional trade and do not comply with the guidelines agreed with
all the mediterranean partners in the Barcelona declaration in November 1995.

The Commission(cid:146)s position takes into account the Barcelona declaration and is in accordance with the current
negotiating mandate adopted by the Council, which, as in the negotiations concluded with Morocco, Tunisia and
Israel,  is  based  on  the  traditional  trade  flows  of  agricultural  products.  The  Commission  can  assure  the
Honourable  Member  that  the  Community  position  in  the  negotiations  will  take  appropriate  account  of  the
sensitivity of each sector of production.

(98/C 60/57)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1615/97

by Jose· Valverde Lo·pez (PPE) to the Commission

(7 May 1997)

Subject: Spanish involvement in agri-industrial projects

The  Commission  has  recently  approved  62  projects  under  the  agricultural  research  programme.  The
Commission(cid:146)s  selection  of  projects  still  inspires  little  confidence  among  researchers,  who  believe  that
procedures are insufficiently transparent and assessments inadequately based.

Does the Commission plan to alter the procedures?

How many Spanish scientific organizations are involved in the projects approved so far?