WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3641/98 by John McCARTIN Value of food aid to Russia
Date: 1998-12-03
Institutions: European Parliament, MCCARTIN
Subjects: Russia, cereals, costing, food aid, intervention buying, intervention stock, meat, public stock, skimmed milk powder

11.10.1999

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 289/69

Discussions have since been going on at the IMO about the compatibility of these rules with the traffic
separation scheme established by the IMO and with the Treaty of Montreux. The Council recalls the principle
of freedom of passage and navigation in the Straits and supports all efforts that will lead to satisfactory
practices in this matter.

(1999/C 289/090)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3641/98

by John McCartin (PPE) to the Commission

(3 December 1998)

Subject: Value of food aid to Russia

Can the Commission explain how EU food aid for Russia worth about ECU 400 million is actually valued and
whether this ECU 400 million is the value of the food at Community prices or the value normally placed on
surpluses which are sold on the world market? Can the Commission state the value of this proposed aid both at
Community prices and at world prices?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(13 January 1999)

Following the formal Russian request for food aid of 12 November 1998 and the first positive reactions from
the Council and the Parliament, the Commission has submitted a proposal regarding a food supply
programme to the Council and the Parliament as a matter of urgency. The proposal is based on Article 43
of the EC Treaty and covers wheat, rye, rice, beef, pork and skimmed milk powder.

It is intended that the products will be obtained from the Community’s public intervention stocks with the
exception of pork, which will be obtained from the commercial market. The net cost of the operation to the
Community budget is estimated at approximately € 400 million. Within the total, the valuation of the
products concerned totals about € 380 million. This includes a valuation for pork which is based on market
prices within the Community. For the other products, account is taken of their book-keeping values, which are
in line with world prices, given that, in accordance with the Community regulations, products bought into
intervention have already been depreciated down to their expected net commercial selling prices, notably on
world markets. If full Community intervention buying-in prices are taken as the basis, the total valuation of the
products concerned would approach € 800 million.

The budgetary authority has agreed that an amount of € 400 million should be provided from within the
appropriations of the 1998 budget for the financing of the net budgetary cost of this operation.

(1999/C 289/091)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3666/98

by Aline Pailler (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(7 December 1998)

Subject: Persecution at work

Recent studies show that many workers are victims of harassment or bullying at their places of work in
enterprises and administrations. In a recent work entitled ‘Le harcèlement moral. La violence perverse au
quotidien’ (Mental harassment. Bullying as a daily event) Marie-France Hirigoyen describes bullying or psycho-
terror at the workplace as ‘indirect processes of the insidious destruction of an individual with the aim of
attacking his dignity repeatedly, constantly and over a long period’. The consequences for the victims are often
very serious.

Some Member States, including Germany, Italy and Sweden, have national
legislation on such mental
harassment at the workplace. Does the Commission have any information on the number of victims of such
bullying, and is it prepared to propose a directive that would enable mental harassment at places of work to be
combated more effectively?