WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2935/97 by Nikitas KAKLAMANIS to the Council. Failure to invite Cyprus to attend the Luxembourg conference on EU enlargement
Date: 1997-09-16
Institutions: European Parliament, KAKLAMANIS
Subjects: Cyprus, Türkiye, accession to the European Union, armed forces, enlargement of the Union, political situation

C 134/38

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

30. 4. 98

(98/C 134/44)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2935/97

by Nikitas Kaklamanis (UPE) to the Council

(16 September 1997)

Subject: Failure to invite Cyprus to attend the Luxembourg conference on EU enlargement

The Greek (cid:145)Tempo-Newsweek(cid:146) publication reports that the Luxembourg Presidency is organizing a conference
on EU enlargement on 1 September 1997 to which all applicants for accession, apart from Cyprus, have been
invited. This is a particularly strange omission. Why has Cyprus not been invited to attend? It is to be hoped that
this has nothing to do with the island(cid:146)s well-known (cid:145)political problem(cid:146) the term (used by some to designate the
occupation by the Turkish army of 37% of Cypriot territory), which has been further highlighted by the disregard
for  international  law  displayed  by  the  Italian  Foreign  Minister  Mr  Dini,  in  his  observations  concerning  (cid:145)two
republics in Cyprus(cid:146).

Answer

(22 December 1997)

The Luxembourg Presidency has never held a (cid:145)Conference on EU enlargement(cid:146), as referred to by the Honourable
Member.

(98/C 134/45)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2937/97

by Nikitas Kaklamanis (UPE) to the Commission

(17 September 1997)

Subject: Cost to European businesses of adapting to the (cid:145)euro(cid:146)

According to European press reports the cost of adjusting to the (cid:145)euro(cid:146) could be anything up to ECU 100 000
(over Dr 30 m) for small EU enterprises.

This is an excessively large amount particularly in view of the very small turnover of the companies concerned
and the problem is even more acute for those situated in the outlying Member States without direct access to the
Union(cid:146)s chief markets, in view of their modest revenues.

Has the Commission calculated the exact costs to small and medium sized EU enterprises of adjusting to the new
currency and is it envisaging aid of any kind under EU programmes in meeting such costs?

Answer given by Mr de Silguy on behalf of the Commission

(20 November 1997)

Evaluations which have been carried out on the costs to enterprises of introducing the euro have produced widely
varying results, which depend on the nature of the enterprises actually investigated and the different assumptions
on the modalities for the changeover. The Commission has not carried out such an evaluation, but in this context
emphasises that:

›  while  the  costs  to  companies  of  introducing  the  euro  are  one-off,  the  benefits  are  much  more  durable:
creation  of  a  stable  macroeconomic  framework;  completion  of  the  single  market,  thus  significantly
facilitating  trade  within  the  Community  by  eliminating  exchange  rate  uncertainty  and  promoting  price
transparency; savings on administrative expenses related to foreign currency dealings such as hedging;

›  as a result of the above, all companies will be better able to exploit the potential of the single European
market. These benefits will be particularly pronounced for small and medium sized companies since larger
firms typically have the resources to manage and negotiate international financial transactions.