WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1885/98 by José GARCÍA-MARGALLO Y MARFIL to the Commission. Convergence report
Date: 1998-06-16
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Economic Area, consumer price, economic convergence, goods and services, monetary policy, price index, third stage of EMU

C 31/94

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

5.2.1999

payments to the Control of Farmyard Pollution Scheme, a very successful scheme which had applications for
amounts far in excess of the available funds!

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(27 July 1998)

Responsibility for the reallocation of savings of funding under the Transport operational programme lies with the
monitoring committee for the Community support framework. While the suggestion made by the Honourable
Member has been considered, it was decided at the monitoring committee meeting of 26 June 1998 to re-allocate
this funding for the most part in the same sector in order to take account of the needs for investment in transport in
the Dublin region and for infrastructural deficits (road, rail) in Ireland as a whole.

(1999/C 31/125)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1878/98

by Bernie Malone (PSE) to the Commission

(16 June 1998)

Subject: Zero VAT-rate for phosphate-free fertilizers

Given that the phosphate run-offs are having a very detrimental impact on the quality of water in lakes in Ireland,
could the Commission indicate if it plans to bring forward proposals to remove the anomaly whereby fertilizers
containing phosphates are zero VAT-rated, while those that do not contain phosphates are not? If it is not
planning to bring forward such proposals, could it indicate why not?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(23 July 1998)

Pursuant to Article 28(2) of the Sixth VAT Directive (77/388/EEC), (1) the Member States may, subject to certain
conditions, maintain certain exemptions with refund of the tax paid at the preceding stage. Ireland applies a zero
rate to fertilisers under certain conditions. However, according to the information in the Commission(cid:146)s
possession, no distinction is made between fertilisers containing phosphates and those which do not.

(1) OJ L 145, 13.6.1977.

(1999/C 31/126)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1885/98

by JosØ Garc(cid:237)a-Margallo y Marfil (PPE) to the Commission

(16 June 1998)

Subject: Convergence report

The Commission(cid:146)s document COM(98) 1999 (report on progress towards convergence and recommendation with
a view to the transition to the third stage of economic and monetary union) states that on 23 October 1995 the
Council adopted Regulation 2494/95 (1) setting the legal base for the establishment of a harmonized methodology
for compiling consumer price indices in the Member States.

This regulation proposed a two-stage harmonization:

1.

the production of a set of interim indices of consumer prices (IICPs), based on existing national CIPs,
adjusted so as to make the coverage of goods and services as similar as possible;

2.

the construction of harmonized indices of consumer prices (HICPs).

The same report states that the HICPs may be used for drawing up the following aggregate indices at European
level: the European Index of Consumer Prices (EICP), the European Economic Area Index of Consumer Prices
(EEAICP) and the future Monetary Union Index of Consumer Prices.