WRITTEN QUESTION E-1765/00 by Karl von Wogau (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Use of the portion of premium withheld from tobacco growers for research purposes.
Date: 2000-05-31
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: agronomic research, fund (EU), smoking, tobacco

C 89 E/82

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

20.3.2001

They submitted their applications accordingly.

Can the Commission provide a progress report on the above applications?

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(14 July 2000)

The Commission drew up the selection proposals on the basis of the assessment of applications submitted
for the Grundtvig programme for 2000. The PACE project (Project No: 88131-CP-1-2000-0-ES-Grundtvig-
ADU) is included in these proposals.

Proposals concerning the projects selected were submitted for the opinion of the Socrates Committee on
26/27 June 2000, and the final results will be communicated to the project coordinators in August 2000.

(2001/C 89 E/084)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1765/00

by Karl von Wogau (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(31 May 2000)

Subject: Use of the portion of premium withheld from tobacco growers for research purposes

Is the Commission aware that since 1999 2 % (1993-1998: 1 %) of the premium paid to tobacco growers
has been withheld for research purposes?

To what use is this money put?

The money is intended for funding research relating to tobacco growing in Europe. The Land Institute for
Plant Production in Forchheim/Baden takes part in such research programmes. More than DEM 300 000
has still not been paid in respect of research contracts dating from 1997-1999, yet the Institute is vitally
important for tobacco-growing in Germany.

Furthermore, no new programmes have probably been launched in this research sector in the past three
years. How, then, will the accumulated reserves and future revenue be used?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(11 July 2000)

Council Regulation (EEC) No 1636/98 of 20 July 1998 (1) amended Article 13 (establishing a Community
Tobacco Fund) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2075/92 of 30 June 1992 on the common organisation of
the market in raw tobacco (2), widening the purposes of the Fund and raising to 2 % the deduction from
the premium paid to growers on each crop. At present this yields around € 19 million. The Commission
has prepared a new implementing Regulation (3) for the Fund to replace the old one.

In practice the Commission launches projects financed using an ad hoc line, Community fund for research
and information (B1-175). Its appropriations correspond to the estimate of actual incurred costs for the
year in question.

The Fund has not financed any new projects since 1997 but the appropriations available have allowed
financing of the projects in progress which were selected following two calls for proposals in 1994 and
1996. These are multiannual projects financed in annual instalments. The Commission plans to launch
new projects in the coming months.

20.3.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 89 E/83

In order to make up the accumulated delay the Commission committed € 5,2 million between December
1999 and April 2000 to regularise the 1997/1998 financial situation and for advances for 2000.
A commitment for € 500 000 is planned between now and the end of the year for 1999. So far € 1
million has been paid out in advances for 2000. The Commission will commence site checks in July in
order to proceed, in line with Article 21 of Contract Annex II, to pay the balances due. As the Forchheim
Plant Production Institute in Baden has been participating in three projects the sums due will be paid to it
through the coordinators when the site checks on the projects in question are completed.

(1) OJ L 215, 30.7.1992.
(2) OJ L 210, 28.7.1998.
(3) Not yet published.

(2001/C 89 E/085)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1777/00

by Ioannis Souladakis (PSE) to the Commission

(8 June 2000)

Subject: Substandard European Union publications

An article headlined (cid:145)Full funding for (cid:145)Quick Start Package(cid:146) in South East Europe(cid:146) published in European
Union Newsletter No 9 (Sarajevo, April 2000 (cid:129) Delegation of the European Commission in Bosnia and
Herzegovina) makes no reference whatsoever to the Egnatia Highway, an EU-funded development project
which will be highly instrumental
in bringing the Balkan peninsula out of its isolation and under-
development. The map accompanying the article shows the ports of Thessaloniki and Alexandropoulos
together with their planned links to the rest of the European network but fails, bizarrely, to show the
Egnatia Highway.

Is the Commission aware that by publishing such unsatisfactory and absurd reports,
its departments
responsible for the promotion of EU projects, which further development inside and outside the Union, are
essentially undermining the significance of those very projects and the impression they make on European
public opinion?

What measures will the Commission take to monitor the officials responsible for the above omission to
ensure that there is no repetition of such blunders in the future?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(24 July 2000)

The article entitled (cid:145)Full Funding for (cid:145)Quick Start Package(cid:146) in South East Europe(cid:146), as contained in European
Union Newsletter No 9, was designed to give an overview of the impact of the Quick Start Package on
regional transport networks and on pan-European Transport Corridors, particularly those relevant to
Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Commission agrees that particular attention should be given to connecting pan-
European Transport Corridors and Trans-European Networks (TENs). In this context, Via Egnatia and its
vertical links will play an essential role in the development of south east Europe and in reducing regional
isolation.

Given the above, it would indeed have been perfectly conceivable to provide a broader view of Community
action to promote infrastructure development in south east Europe. However, Via Egnatia does not pass
through Bosnia and Herzegovina. Also, given space constraints, the Commission believes that it would be
inconsistent to highlight this route without mentioning the many other connections to the Transport
Corridors which affect Bosnia and Herzegovina. For the same reason, the map accompanying the article
(which is, in fact, an official publication of the European Investment Bank available at http://www.eib.org/
pub/news/btf/transp.jpg) does not mention the Via Egnatia.