WRITTEN QUESTION E-1602/00 by Cecilia Malmström (ELDR) to the Commission. Subsidiarity principle.
Date: 2000-05-29
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Commission, Treaty of Amsterdam, application of EU law, principle of proportionality, principle of subsidiarity

18.4.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 113 E/31

These activities will lead to a range of harmonised test protocols concerning the carcinogenic capacity of
man-made vitreous fibres.

(1) Commission Directive 97/69/EC of 5 December 1997 adapting to technical progress for the 23rd time Council
Directive 67/548/EEC on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to the
classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous substances (OJ L 343, 13.12.1997).

(2001/C 113 E/025)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1602/00

by Cecilia Malmstr(cid:246)m (ELDR) to the Commission

(29 May 2000)

Subject: Subsidiarity principle

The Treaty of Amsterdam, which entered into force on 1 May 1999, has annexed to it a protocol on the
application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality. The protocol clarifies and lays down
further criteria for the application and observance of those principles. Has the introduction of this protocol
led to any changes in the Commission and in the working methods of its officials and, if so, what changes
have taken place to ensure that the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality are observed?

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(6 July 2000)

The Commission has organised itself internally to take account of the protocol on the application of the
principles of subsidiarity and proportionality. This protocol takes up the essentials of the guidelines drawn
up at the 1992 Edinburgh European Council, which the Commission has always endeavoured to fully
respect.

From July 1998 new internal guidelines were presented and distributed to Commission departments, which
aimed to define more clearly what action should be taken in the light of the information given in the
protocol.

These instructions have brought results which can be seen,
in Commission departments
giving clearer explanations for planned Community action in the light of the principles of subsidiarity and
proportionality.

in particular,

(2001/C 113 E/026)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1617/00

by Francesco Turchi (UEN) and Mauro Nobilia (UEN) to the Commission

Subject: Irregularities involving NGOs supplying aid to Kosovo

(29 May 2000)

According to authoritative news reports, the Commission has in its possession a detailed report revealing
how numerous humanitarian NGOs sprung up suddenly in Europe and Albania during the war in Kosovo
and vanished without trace when the conflict ended. These organisations apparently used the cover of aid
operations to smuggle urgently needed goods and products, paid for by governments and international
donors, and sell them on the black market. In some cases, humanitarian aid was used as a front for arms
trafficking by the KLA. The report was drawn up by the Customs Assistance Mission (CAM) in cooperation
with the Albanian authorities and was funded by the Commission. The report highlights the serious
irregularities affecting more than 40 % of
the NGOs and cases of bodies run directly by criminal
organisations, which resulted in a massive fraud to the detriment of Kosovan refugees and a decline in
regular exports to Albania, which fell by more than 60 % during the period concerned. The report is in the