WRITTEN QUESTION E-0286/00 by Roberta Angelilli (UEN) to the Commission. Difficulties affecting the Rome newspaper Il Tempo.
Date: 2000-02-11
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Commission, European social policy, Italy, common commercial policy, free competition, freedom of expression, merger, newspaper, powers of the institutions (EU)

C 280 E/206

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

3.10.2000

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(20 March 2000)

The collections of postage stamps that post offices may currently have in stock form part of their assets.
Should a Member State decide to privatise its public postal service, it must also determine, as for its other
assets, what happens to these collections, taking into account the market for them.

As the Commission is responsible neither for determining ownership arrangements in Member States nor
it cannot intervene regarding what is done with these stamp
for organising how stamps are issued,
collections when such a change of status occurs.

(2000/C 280 E/243)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0283/00

by Chris Davies (ELDR) to the Commission

(3 February 2000)

Subject: CITES (cid:129) Listing of basking sharks

The UK Government has proposed that
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

the basking shark should be listed in Appendix II of the

1. Will the Commission list other Member States which have indicated to date that they also support
the listing of the basking shark?

2. Will the Commission indicate whether it intends to support such a listing at the next Conference of
the Parties in April 2000?

Answer given by Mrs Wallstr(cid:246)m on behalf of the Commission

(25 February 2000)

There are good scientific arguments for supporting the proposal to list the basking shark in Appendix II of
Convention on international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora (CITES). However, the
Commission itself has yet to adopt a formal position on this point.

Member States will
in due course determine the
Community(cid:146)s common position on the basis of a proposal from the Commission for the CITES conference
of the parties.

indicate their views in the Council, which will

(2000/C 280 E/244)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0286/00

by Roberta Angelilli (UEN) to the Commission

(11 February 2000)

Subject: Difficulties affecting the Rome newspaper Il Tempo

The difficulties of Il Tempo, a well-known Rome newspaper which has not been on the news-stands for
several days, have recently been causing quite a stir. The controversy has arisen because the publisher is
continuing to take a hard line with those who are calling for negotiations, also involving the trade unions,
in an attempt to resolve the problem of the jobs being jeopardised by the publisher(cid:146)s restructuring policy.
The publisher, however, apparently does not intend to abide by union agreements or the employment
contracts drawn up by the journalists(cid:146) and printers(cid:146) professional representatives. In addition, the proprietor-
ship situation is shrouded in mystery because the sum paid by the present publisher, Bonifaci, for the
Societ(cid:224) Editrice Romana seems to have consisted largely of money belonging to the Societ(cid:224) Editrice
Romana, in other words the company whose shares were the subject of the deal.

3.10.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 280 E/207

In the light of the foregoing, does the Commission not believe that it should:

1.

2.

intervene in order to ascertain that the sale of the Societ(cid:224) Editrice Romana was lawful and has not
damaged free competition;

call on the Italian authorities to take steps to protect a leading daily and freedom of expression, which
is possibly being endangered by Bonifaci(cid:146)s strategies;

3.

express a general view on the matter?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(20 March 2000)

The Commission thanks the Honourable Member for sharing her concerns regarding the current situation
of the Il Tempo newspaper.

However, the matters referred to in the question do not have any cross-border dimension liable to come
under the principles of freedom of movement or the rules on competition within the internal market.

This being the case, the Commission cannot comment on the matter.

(2000/C 280 E/245)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0305/00

by Jens-Peter Bonde (EDD) to the Commission

(4 February 2000)

Subject: Social benefits

Will the Commission say whether the Danish practice of allocating old-age pensions and government
education grants on the basis of citizenship is consistent with EU law?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(28 February 2000)

Each Member State is responsible for its own social security system and decides which benefits shall be
provided, the conditions for eligibility and the value of these benefits.

There are, however, Community provisions for the co-ordination of these systems in Council Regulation
(EEC) No 1408/71 of 14 June 1971 on the application of social security schemes to employed persons and
their families moving within the Community (1) and Council Regulation (EEC) No 574/72 of 21 March
1972 fixing the procedure for implementing Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 (2) in order to ensure that
employed persons, self-employed persons and members of their families do not lose their social security
protection when moving within the Community and also to ensure that the basic principles of equality of
treatment and non-discrimination are respected (3).

According to Article 3 of Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71, people resident in the territory of one Member
State shall be subject to the same obligations and enjoy the same benefits under the legislation of any
Member State as the nationals of that State. Should nationals of other Member States not be granted the
people(cid:146)s pension under Danish legislation on an equal footing with Danish nationals this would constitute
a breach of Community law.

The Honourable Member refers also to education grants. In this respect, the principle of (cid:145)equality of
treatment(cid:146) means that the university or college where a citizen of the Union wishes to study must accept
students under the same conditions as nationals. Therefore, if a grant is paid to nationals of the Member