WRITTEN QUESTION E-1630/00 by Avril Doyle (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Need for a bank guarantee in order to receive certain EU funding.
Date: 2000-05-29
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU financing, Ireland, agricultural region, aid system, credit guarantee, non-profit organisation, woman

13.3.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 81 E/63

against the European Community for damages. The reference year should be the most recent year for
which market figures are available. Using 1999 as the reference year instead of 1996 would not result in
any diminution in the level of environmental protection afforded by the regulation.

I have been informed that, in 1999, 32 companies from almost every Member State of the European
Union were allocated import quotas by the European Commission. Only five of those companies imported
HCFCs in 1996. HRP Regrigerants Ltd. (HRPR), an SMU based in South Wales, distributed EU-produced
HCFCs in 1996 but did not import any HCFCs that year. HRPR was allocated an import quota by the
European Commission in 1998, 1999 and 2000. As the new regulation is currently worded, HRPR is one
of some 27 companies which will be deprived of its HCFC import quota from the end of 2000.

What is the Council doing to resolve this problem as a matter of urgency and to ensure that European
Community legislation enables the Commission to allocate HCFC import quotas in the future without
infringing the rights of EU-based businesses?

(1) OJ L 333, 22.12.1994, p. 1.

Reply

(10 October 2000)

The Commission has announced that it will soon submit a proposal which will address a number of these
issues. This proposal will be examined by the Council and the European Parliament.

(2001/C 81 E/075)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1630/00

by Avril Doyle (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(29 May 2000)

Subject: Need for a bank guarantee in order to receive certain EU funding

The Mid-South Roscommon Rural Development Co. has run two successful Leader-funded pilot projects in
the past four years, one of which was the Roscommon Home Services cooperative. The Roscommon
Home Services cooperative was awarded further funding under the (cid:145)Innovative Actions for Women in
Agriculture and Rural Areas(cid:146) (one of 30 from about 400 aplicants) in December 1999 (1). This funding is
being withheld as they cannot provide a bank guarantee. Since the cooperative is a not-for-profit
organisation that does not own any assets, banks in Ireland are unwilling to provide such a guarantee.

Would the Commission reconsider its refusal to release the funding, bearing in mind that:

(cid:129) the group in question is proven, innovative and successful project team with a history of reliable
financial control (having been approved for financial assistance on a number of occasions by the
European Commission)

(cid:129) many people in the surrounding rural area are becoming increasingly dependent on their services

(cid:129) the group is unable to obtain a guarantee as a result essentially of its legal definition and not of its

financial management capacity.

(1) Project No Arinco No 99 IE 06002 (cid:129) (Roscommon Home Services).

C 81 E/64

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

13.3.2001

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(26 June 2000)

Community financial assistance under the Innovative actions for women in agriculture programme was
available under the second and third indents of Article 8 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 4256/88 of
19 December 1988, laying down provisions for implementing Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88 as regards
the EAGGF Guidance Section (1). In December 1999 several pilot projects were selected and approved.
In Ireland, two projects were chosen:
(cid:145)Roscommon Home Service(cid:146) and (cid:145)Moy Valley Bog Wood Crafts(cid:146)
(ref. Arinco No 99. IE.06002 and Arinco No 99.IE.06001).

The Commission decision approving these projects and notified in December 1999 to the beneficiaries
provides (item 3 of Annex 1) that Community support will be paid after (cid:133) (cid:145)the Commission has adopted
the decision and notified the beneficiary and received a bank guarantee as shown in Annex 2 (cid:133)(cid:146). This rule
is valid and compulsory for all the beneficiaries in the Community. The content of the decision notified to
each beneficiary, from a legal point of view, is compulsory. Article 249 (ex-Article 189) of the EC Treaty
provides that (cid:145)a decision shall be binding in its entirety upon those to whom it is addressed(cid:146).

On the other hand, each Community programme or initiative has its own financial procedures. The fact
that insurance bonds were used for Leader II programme does not mean that the same would be applicable
in the case of Article 8 of Regulation (EEC) No 4256/88. In this precise framework, if a beneficiary cannot
present the bank guarantee as provided in the Commission decision the project in question would not be
eligible for Community financial assistance. The same approach is applied to the beneficiaries of all
Member States,
in the framework of a sound and transparent financial management of Community
resources.

(1) OJ L 374, 31.12.1988.

(2001/C 81 E/076)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1631/00

by Richard Howitt (PSE) to the Commission

(29 May 2000)

Subject: Bid from Mr Geoffrey Weston and Mr Klays Pahlich (cid:129) Publication of Danube Watch magazines

Has the European Commission verified that the tender procedure initiated for the awarding of the contract
referred to above, based on the bid put forward on 7 October 1998, fully conforms with European
Commission rules?

Given that the project is funded by PHARE and TACIS, does the Commission accept that the contract must
fully comply with EC auditing requirements?

Given that the Danube Programme Coordination Unit (Danube PCU) agreed that my constituents referred
to above had produced a high-quality magazine, what justification can the Commission provide for
withdrawing the contract from them?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(10 July 2000)

The Commission did not have a contract with the Honourable Member(cid:146)s constituents for the publication of
the (cid:145)Danube Watch(cid:146) magazine. The contract
in question was between the firm Arquus Verlag
(the employer of Messrs Weston and Pahlich) and the United Nations Office for Project Services
(UNOPS). This contract expired in October 1998.