WRITTEN QUESTION P-1395/00 by Hans-Peter Mayer (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Investment subsidies for on-site cold stores.
Date: 2000-05-03
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU aid, aid to agriculture, investment aid, restriction on competition, storage of food

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Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

6.3.2001

(2001/C 72 E/055)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1381/00

by Michl Ebner (PPE-DE) to the Council

(5 May 2000)

Subject: Establishment of a Council of Ministers responsible for equality between women and men

The European Parliament has a Committee on Women(cid:146)s Rights and Equal Opportunities which is
concerned exclusively with women(cid:146)s issues, and the Commission has a Commissioner responsible for this
area.

Does the Council agree that it might be useful to set up a special Council of Ministers for women so that
those Member States which do not yet have a ministry for women(cid:146)s affairs are encouraged to set one up?

Reply

(18/19 September 2000)

The Helsinki European Council agreed, in Recommendation No 9 of Annex III to its Conclusions, that the
number of Council formations should be reduced in order to improve the coordination and consistency of
the Council(cid:146)s work. It assigned to the General Affairs Council the task of taking the steps necessary to
achieve that objective.

On 10 April 2000 the Council, in its General Affairs formation, decided to combine certain formations so
that their total number (1) would be limited to 16 in line with the Conclusions of the Helsinki European
Council.

The Council recalls that questions concerning equal treatment for men and women are covered by the
Council in its Employment and Social Policy (2) formation. Furthermore, the Council considers that taking
into account the promotion of equality between men and women in all relevant Union policies further
guarantees the achievement of the objective set out in the TEC.

Finally, it is for each Member State to determine its representation on the Council, in accordance with
Article 203 of the EC Treaty. It is not, therefore, for the Council to express a view on this question. At the
very most, the Helsinki European Council (6 October to 11 December 1999) envisaged that each Member
State should keep under permanent review its internal coordination arrangements for EU matters so that
they are tailored to ensuring the optimum functioning of the Council(cid:146)s machinery.

(1) A list of these formations is given in 7039/1/00 REV 1 and will be published in the Official Journal in June 2000.
(2) The name of this formation has been changed to reflect the changes to the EC Treaty introduced by the Treaty of

Amsterdam.

(2001/C 72 E/056)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1395/00

by Hans-Peter Mayer (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Investment subsidies for on-site cold stores

(3 May 2000)

Pursuant to the Commission Decision of 22 March 1994 on the selection criteria to be adopted for
investments for improving the processing and marketing conditions for agricultural and forestry products
(94/173/EC) (1), certain sectors listed in an annex enjoy special priority, while other sectors are excluded
from receiving subsidies.

Pursuant to the third indent of point 1.2 in the Annex, (cid:145)investments in cold stores for frozen or deep-
frozen products, unless required for the normal operation of processing installations(cid:146) are expressly
excluded from receiving investment subsidies. It therefore follows that, in the case of what are referred to
as on-site cold stores, it is very likely that investment subsidies are actually made available.

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it happens in practice that cold stores connected with the
Because such investment subsidies exist,
processing installations are deliberately constructed with a cold storage capacity which considerably
exceeds the basic idea behind and the purpose of the said investment subsidies. This vast surplus storage
capacity is then offered to third parties as commercial storage for frozen and deep-frozen products. The
subsidies granted enable prices to be kept to a minimum, and that results in a substantial competitive
disadvantage for commercial cold stores.

Is the Commission aware of this situation?

What steps are planned to eliminate this distortion of competition?

(1) OJ L 79, 23.3.1994, p. 29.

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(24 May 2000)

The respect of the selection criteria for investments for improving the processing and marketing conditions
for agricultural products pursuant to Commission Decision 94/173/EC of 22 March 1994 is part of the
Commission Decision on the approval of single programming documents for Community structural
measures for improving the processing and marketing conditions for agricultural products.

The recitals include the following obligation for the Member States: (cid:145)Whereas, during the implementation
of the single programming document, the Member State will ensure that the individual projects included
therein will conform with the selection criteria for investments for improving the processing and market-
ing conditions for agricultural products currently in force,
in application of Article 8(1) of Council
Regulation (EC) No 951/97 of 20 May 1997 on improving the processing and marketing conditions for
agricultural products (1)(cid:146).

The implementation of the aid scheme by the Member States includes the examination of the project
proposals and the respect of the selection criteria by the authorities in the Member State or region.

If the Commission receives information which demonstrates that the approved conditions to grant aid are
not respected, the Commission can take the appropriate measures foreseen in Council Regulation (EC)
No 659/1999 of 22 March 1999 which provides the modalities of
the application of Article 88
(ex Article 93) of the EC Treaty (2).

(1) OJ L 142, 2.6.1997.
(2) OJ L 83, 27.3.1999.

(2001/C 72 E/057)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1397/00

by Bernd Lange (PSE) to the Commission

(4 May 2000)

Subject: Implementation of Directive 92/61/EEC in Germany (cid:129) specified types of tyre

The Commission(cid:146)s original proposal that tyre types be specified as part of the type-approval of motorcycles
was not included in Directive 92/61/EEC (1), as the European Parliament considered that the specification
of tyre types by vehicle manufacturers in the context of the European type-approval procedure for
motorcycles would place tyre manufacturers who had perhaps not been taken into account at a
competitive disadvantage.

In Germany, however, it seems that vehicle manufacturers are still managing to specify particular types of
tyre in vehicle documentation, even after the Directive(cid:146)s entry into force, by using vehicle type-testing
procedures.

Is the Commission aware of such practices? Does it consider German implementation of the Directive to
be at odds with European legislation?

(1) OJ L 225, 10.8.1992, p. 72.