WRITTEN QUESTION No. 4229/97 by Ulf HOLM to the Council. Treaty of Amsterdam publicity campaign
Date: 1998-01-15
Institutions: European Parliament, HOLM
Subjects: EU law - national law, European treaties, Germany, Sweden, access to EU information, advertising, dissemination of EU information, impact of advertising, public awareness campaign

22. 6. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 196/105

(98/C 196/146)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-4229/97

by Ulf Holm (V) to the Council

(15 January 1998)

Subject: Treaty of Amsterdam publicity campaign

In the autumn, Sweden(cid:146)s Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched a large-scale propaganda campaign costing about
SKR 9 million to promote the Treaty of Amsterdam. The material used in the campaign contains many factual
errors, however, and the text is mainly devoted to examples of what are referred to as Swedish (cid:145)successes(cid:146) on
employment, the environment and equal opportunities. Yet the German Foreign Affairs Ministry(cid:146)s publication
(cid:145)Der Abschluss der Regierungskonferenz › eine Gesamtwertung(cid:146), for instance, does not even mention the issues
highlighted in the Swedish campaign. Instead, it sets out in detail the aim of the Treaty of Amsterdam, namely
further  development  of  the  common  foreign  and  security  policy,  greater  police  and  judicial  cooperation  and
making the Union more effective by increasing its supranational dimension and curbing Member States(cid:146) rights of
veto, so as to make enlargement possible. The differences in the content of the material are so great that readers
cannot help wondering if these texts refer to the same Treaty of Amsterdam. Instead of a public debate, we have
thus got one-way communication, in which the authorities tell the public how things stand. In view of this, will
the Council state:  it is possible for information material produced by the governments of two Member States to
differ so much?  Whether it considers it ethically correct for governments to use their powers and for taxpayers(cid:146)
money to be spent to run (cid:145)politically(cid:146) very biased information campaigns about the EU which also contain factual
errors?

Answer

(30 March 1998)

The Honourable Member will kindly note that it is not for the Council to express an opinion on the information
supplied by Member States in connection with the Amsterdam Treaty, which is currently subject to ratification
by the Member States.

Through the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities the General Secretariat of the Council
contributed to the publication of the texts of the Treaty of Amsterdam and of the consolidated versions of the
Treaties. These publications may be consulted free of charge on the Internet via the General Secretariat of the
Council(cid:146)s website (http://ue.eu.int). The texts are accompanied by descriptive summaries involving the liability
of neither the Community institutions nor the Member States.

(98/C 196/147)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-4230/97

by Pierluigi Castagnetti (PPE) to the Commission

(14 January 1998)

Subject: Approval of the 1997-1999 Single Planning Document for the Region Friuli Venezia Giulia

The Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia submitted to the Commission the Single Planning Document for the period
1997-1999 at the beginning of August.

Despite intensive negotiations and assurances that the decision-making process would be rapidly concluded, the
Document has still not been approved by the Commission.

Can the Commission state the reasons for the delay?

Is the Commission aware that the unjustified delay in the adoption of a decision on the subject is causing the
regional government obvious difficulties in the execution of the planned measures?