do-me/EUR-LEX huggingface dataset:
WRITTEN QUESTION E-2221/99 by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission. Promotions in the Commission and in the Member States.
Date: 1999-12-01
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Commission, European official, promotion, statistics

C 219 E/126

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

1.8.2000

In the interests of transparency, will the Council provide Parliament with summary reports of these

3.
meetings and with any documents on which discussions have been based?

4. With regard to the proposed directive on the taxation on savings income ((cid:145)withholding tax(cid:146)), press
reports have recently indicated that Commissioner Bolkestein appears to be softening his approach be
permitting exemptions for eurobond trading from the withholding tax. What is the prospect of such an
exemption being agreed? What are the most likely terms of such an exemption?

5. Will the Final Report of the Working Group on the Code of Conduct for Business Taxation be
completed on time? Will this report be made public? What measures, and in which Member States, are
included in the report?

Reply

(14 February 2000)

One of the main priorities of the Presidency in the last months was to bring to a conclusion the three
elements of the so-called Tax package before the Helsinki European Council. With that aim, intensive
discussions concerning both technical questions and basic features have taken place within the Council
itself and its competent bodies (at technical and high level). The Council will continue to inform Parliament
in the usual way on these developments.

With regard to the proposal for a Directive on the taxation of savings, it emerged from the discussions
held so far, that the views of Member States still not have converged on some of the key issues.

The Code of Conduct Group on business taxation brought its discussions on the assessment of potentially
harmful measures to a conclusion. A report on its work has been forwarded to the Ecofin Council of
29 November 1999. According to paragraph H of the Code of Conduct, the reports of the Code of
Conduct Group will be published, if the Council so decides.

(2000/C 219 E/157)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2221/99

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(1 December 1999)

Subject: Promotions in the Commission and in the Member States

Would the Commission please indicate the proportion of employees of the Commission who have been
promoted by one grade, two grades and three grades in the last five-year period and provide comparisons
for the civil services of the five largest Member States?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(9 December 1999)

A table with the details of the total number and proportion of Commission employees who have been
promoted by one grade, two grades and three grades in the five year period from 1994-1998 is being sent
directly to the Honourable Member and to Parliament(cid:146)s Secretariat.

The Commission does not have comparable figures for the civil services of Member States or the legal
authority to require provision of such statistics.
WRITTEN QUESTION E-2224/99 by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission. Nationality of Commission employees.
Date: 1999-12-01
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Commission, administrator, discrimination on the basis of nationality, size of business

C 203 E/150

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.7.2000

(2000/C 203 E/191)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2223/99

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(1 December 1999)

Subject: Regional living standards

Please tabulate the real per capita gross domestic product and real per capita gross regional (i.e. equivalent
to national) product (at purchasing power parities) for each standard region of the EU (EU-15) using the
most recent figures, and those for one, two, three, four and five years previously.

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(14 January 2000)

The regional data which the Commission calculates and publishes on gross domestic product are given at
current prices in euros,
in purchasing power standards (PPS), and as a percentage of the Community
average.

The data for 1992 to 1996, at NUTS level 2 (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics; 211 regions),
are being sent directly to the Honourable Member and to the Secretariat-General of the Parliament.

The 1997 data will be available in a few weeks time, and will be made available to users in Eurostat(cid:146)s
NewCronos database.

(2000/C 203 E/192)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2224/99

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(1 December 1999)

Subject: Nationality of Commission employees

Please state the proportion of employees by nationality in each of
Commission establishment plan.

the top ten grades within the

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(10 December 1999)

A table concerning the distribution of the personnel of the Commission by nationalities and by categories
is sent direct to the Honourable Member and to Parliament(cid:146)s Secretariat. The table comprises the officials
and temporary staff, under all budgets, on 1 November 1999.

The salient
personnel has been on the internet (1) since 6 October 1999.

information relating to the distribution by grade and nationality of senior Commission

(1)

http://europa.eu.int/comm/staff/nationalities/.
WRITTEN QUESTION E-2238/99 by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission. Support for dyspraxia victims.
Date: 1999-12-01
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU Member State, European social policy, care of people with disabilities, disabled person

18.7.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 203 E/155

(2000/C 203 E/198)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2237/99

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(1 December 1999)

Subject: Language of first draft documents

Please indicate the language of the first draft of Commission working documents in each of the last five
years.

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(14 January 2000)

The Commission is sending direct to the Honourable Member and to Parliament(cid:146)s Secretariat a table
containing the information requested.

(2000/C 203 E/199)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2238/99

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(1 December 1999)

Subject: Support for dyspraxia victims

Please indicate the official support and help offered to the victims of dyspraxia and their families in each of
the Member States.

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(20 December 1999)

The Commission is aware of the importance of this disability. However, there is no Community action
programme in the area of public health at the moment, which could support the sufferers of dyspraxia and
their families.

Support and help to victims of dyspraxia and their families is a responsibility of the Member States.
Information on support programmes of the Member States in favour of sufferers and their families is not
made available to the Commission.

(2000/C 203 E/200)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2241/99

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(1 December 1999)

Subject: Employees of the central banks of the Member States

Please state which authority in each case is responsible for approving the budget of each Member State(cid:146)s
central bank, the number of people serving on that authority, their term of office, whether it is renewable
and who appoints them.

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(21 December 1999)

The Commission considers that a proper reply to this question would require long research. This would
not be justified in the light of the following statement, which is included in its convergence report 1998
(report prepared in accordance with Article 121(1) of the EC Treaty (ex Article 109j)): (cid:145)An NCB (national
WRITTEN QUESTION E-2226/99 by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission. Internet access.
Date: 1999-12-01
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Internet, access to information, geographical distribution, household, statistics

C 26 E/4

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

26.1.2001

However, it does recognise the possibility, as pointed out by the Honourable Member, that, in certain
circumstances, specific grounds of historical and artistic protection should also be taken into consideration
by the national authorities, while of course meeting the criteria of non-discrimination, necessity and
proportionality, in accordance with the Court of Justice(cid:146)s consistent case law on the free movement of
services.

In the light of these considerations and the keen interest shown by the public in these infringement
proceedings, the Commission will seriously consider the suggestion made by the Honourable Member that
a document be prepared in the near
the interested parties
future to clarify,
(users, operators and national authorities), the scope and effects of Article 49 with regard to the use of
satellite dishes.

the benefit of

for

It should also be noted that the Commission recently adopted a communication on the strategy for
Europe(cid:146)s internal market which did in fact stress the outlook for the digital era and the promotion of
consumers(cid:146) economic interests (2).

IP/99/281 of 3 May 1999.

(1)
(2) COM(1999) 624 final.

(2001/C 26 E/004)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2226/99

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(1 December 1999)

Subject: Internet access

What is the percentage of households in each Member State which have access to the Internet at the most
recent date, and what was the similar percentage one year, two years and three years previously? If it is
possible to indicate what proportion of households have access at home and what proportion through
their place of work, please do so.

(2001/C 26 E/005)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2229/99

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(1 December 1999)

Subject: Internet advertising trends

What is the amount spent on advertising on the Internet in each Member State, and what was spent one
year, two years, and three years before?

Joint answer
to Written Questions E-2226/99 and E-2229/99 given
by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(19 January 2000)

There are no official consolidated Community figures available, either for styles of Internet access or for
Internet advertising revenues. This is due to the very dramatic growth in the level of Internet usage and to
the speed of change in the form of usage.

There are figures available from a variety of other sources which provide an idea of the growth and
geographical distribution of Internet usage. The different sources however often provide quite different
estimates even when referring to the same country. Even from the same source the figures may not indeed
even be comparable year to year because the methodologies are changed and as what is being monitored
continues to change constantly.
WRITTEN QUESTION E-2243/99 by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission. Maintenance and publication of econometric models.
Date: 1999-12-01
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU Member State, access to EU information, economic model

C 203 E/154

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.7.2000

Updated information on the total number of infringement proceedings oustanding against each Member
State is available on the European website at the following address: http://europa.eu.int/comm/sg/sgb/
infringements/pdf/ms_n.pdf. This information is updated monthly.

(1) OJ C 250, 10.8.1998.
(2) OJ C 332, 3.11.1997.
(3) OJ C 303, 14.10.1996.
(4) OJ C 254, 29.9.1995.

(2000/C 203 E/196)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2232/99

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(1 December 1999)

Subject: Publication of the econometric model

Is the Commission willing to make available to interested researchers its econometric model of the EU and
the eurozone, stripped, where necessary, of all assumptions?

(2000/C 203 E/197)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2243/99

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(1 December 1999)

Subject: Maintenance and publication of econometric models

Please state, for each finance ministry and central bank in the Member States and for the Commission,
whether an econometric model of their own economy and of the eurozone economy is maintained and
whether the model is made available to interested parties on a regular basis and, if so, how regularly.

Joint answer
to Written Questions E-2232/99 and E-2243/99
by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(20 December 1999)

Models in the public sector of Member States are not always developed by ministries of finance or central
banks (e.g. in Belgium and the Netherlands, they are developed by their planning bureau). The existence of
such models varies through time, is of course not under the control of the Commission and is not always
publicised.
their availability should thus be requested from the Member States
authorities.

Information about

As far as the Commission is concerned, it has been a constant policy to transfer its multinational macro
model QUEST to all universities and public sector research units that request it. The transfer is made under
the following conditions. The user cannot modify the structure and equations of the model in any way and
simulations made with the model should always state that they only represent the views of the authors and
in no way those of the Commission. The model has been developed in a specific software package that is
not the property of the Commission. The user must thus provide the same software, acquired under his
own responsibility. The Commission cannot provide any technical help to the user. It is the responsibility
of the latter to entrust the model to a fully qualified econometric team having a proven experience of
running macro-economic models.

The model covers all Member States and a description of it could be found on the Internet at the address;
http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg02/document/ecopap/ecp/123en.htm.