WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1382/98 by Spalato BELLERE' , Cristiana MUSCARDINI , Roberta ANGELILLI to the Commission. Lira-euro conversion costs
Date: 1998-05-07
Institutions: ANGELILLI, BELLERE, European Parliament, MUSCARDINI
Subjects: Italy, bank charges, bond, code of conduct, euro, exchange rate, monetary union, national tax, operating cost, public debt

22.12.98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 402/121

(98/C 402/159)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1379/98

by Richard Corbett (PSE) to the Commission

(7 May 1998)

Subject: La Laguna Dogs(cid:146) Home, Tenerife

Is the Commission aware of the situation in the La Laguna Dogs(cid:146) Home in Tenerife? Does the Protocol on Animal
Welfare, annexed to the Treaty of Amsterdam, give additional scope for the Commission to investigate alleged
breaches of animal welfare in such a situation where neither religious rights, cultural traditions nor regional
heritage can provide an excuse for failing to respect the welfare requirements of animals?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(11 June 1998)

The animal welfare protocol annexed to the Treaty of Amsterdam covers only agriculture, transport, internal
market and research.

The welfare of dogs within a dogs home, therefore, falls outside the scope of the protocol and is purely within the
competence of the national authorities.

(98/C 402/160)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1382/98

by Spalato BellerØ (NI), Cristiana Muscardini (NI) and Roberta Angelilli (NI) to the Commission

Subject: Lira-euro conversion costs

(7 May 1998)

The present Italian Government has collected 12 000 billion Lira from taxpayers in the form of a (cid:145)euro-tax(cid:146).

Now the government is preparing, via a decree from the Ministry of Finance, to make Italian citizens meet the
costs of all compulsory lira-euro conversions, by imposing additional bank charges for all operations. In addition,
it is requiring conversions to be carried out at the level of individual securities rather than portfolios and is not
accepting the Commission(cid:146)s suggestion for dealing with the problem of currency divisions, fixing a minimum
unit of transaction equal to one hundredth of a euro.

As a result, the burden of the transition to the single currency will be borne entirely by the public, since the
Ministry of Finance has no intention of making it compulsory for these transactions to be free of charge.

In the light of these considerations, will the Commission say what urgent measures it intends to take to ensure that
Community citizens are not required to bear the full costs of the transition to the single currency as a result of
such practices?

Answer given by Mr de Silguy on behalf of the Commission

(24 June 1998)

The Commission supports the Honourable Members(cid:146) views that the introduction of the euro has to be as efficient
and smooth as possible and that consumers should not be penalised. In order to identify the most efficient means
to achieve that objective the Commission has examined in depth the practical aspects of the introduction of the
euro with the help of expert groups. Particular attention has been given to the issue of banking charges for
conversion.

On 23 April 1998 the Commission adopted a recommendation which sets out a standard of good practice on
banking charges for conversion to the euro. This standard covers both those practices that the Commission
considers to be legally required on the basis of the euro regulations (i.e. the conversion of incoming payments
during the transitional period and of accounts at the end of the transitional period) and other recommended