WRITTEN QUESTION No. 172/98 by Markus FERBER to the Commission. Council decision on the amended proposal for a directive on the approximation of the legal and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning the advertising of tobacco products
Date: 1998-02-02
Institutions: European Parliament, FERBER
Subjects: EC Directive, Greece, advertising, common organisation of markets, economic support, export (EU), proposal (EU), tobacco

C 223/132

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

17. 7. 98

The cities mentioned by the Honourable Member are eligible under Objective 2. The eligibility criteria described
above thus apply to the light rail projects proposed by the Basque government. By way of information, measure
4.2 of the Objective 2 programme (1997-99) for the Basque country includes part-funding for line II of the Bilbao
underground railway. The ERDF will contribute ECU 29.45 million out of an eligible total of ECU 98.16 million.

(98/C 223/169)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0172/98

by Markus Ferber (PPE) to the Commission

(2 February 1998)

Subject: Council  decision  on  the  amended  proposal  for  a  directive  on  the  approximation  of  the  legal  and

administrative provisions of the Member States concerning the advertising of tobacco products

Is it correct that under the market organization in tobacco in recent years Greece has repeatedly received

1.
more than its due in tobacco subsidies?

2.

Is it correct that, as a result, Greece now owes as much as ECU 200 million in reimbursements?

3.
Is  it  correct  that,  in  connection  with  the  proposed  directive  on  the  approximation  of  the  legal  and
administrative provisions of the Member States with regard to the advertising of tobacco products, there are now
plans to waive either a large proportion or the full amount of Greece(cid:146)s debt?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(6 March 1998)

1.
The Commission can inform the Honourable Member that since the 1992 reform of the market organisation
in  tobacco,  Greece  has  only  received  those  premiums  it  has  been  entitled  to  under  Council  Regulation  (EC)
No 1420/97 of 22 July 1997 fixing, for the 1997 harvest, the premiums for leaf tobacco by group of tobacco
varieties (1), which have remained unchanged since 1995.

2.
In  recent  years,  Greece  has  been  subject  to  financial  corrections  of  ECU  82  million  owing  to  irregular
exports to Albania and Bulgaria between 1986 and 1991. These sums have been paid in full. No other financial
corrections  have  been  applied  to  Greece  in  the  tobacco  sector,  and  nor  have  any  measures  been  adopted  to
recover undue payments as checks carried out so far have shown that Greece has complied with the substance of
the rules adopted subsequent to the reform of the market organisation in tobacco.

No. There is no connection between Council discussions on the proposed directive on the advertising of

3.
tobacco products (2) and the common organisation of the market in tobacco.

(1)  OJ L 196, 24.7.1997.
(2)  OJ C 129, 21.5.1992.

(98/C 223/170)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0173/98

by Mary Banotti (PPE) to the Council

(6 February 1998)

Subject: Children with learning difficulties

Could the Council please state why the UK Presidency has made no reference in its programme to providing for
the  needs  of  children  with  specific  learning  disabilities  when  the  UK  Presidency  is  focussed  on  a  (cid:145)People(cid:146)s
Europe(cid:146). Surely the child is at the very basis of a (cid:145)People(cid:146)s Europe(cid:146)?