WRITTEN QUESTION E-1817/00 by Raffaele Costa (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Corrigenda to calls for proposals relating to the Interprise programme.
Date: 2000-06-08
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU programme, business policy, invitation to tender

C 89 E/92

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

20.3.2001

Reply

(23 October 2000)

The question whether to include the classification of forest protection in the Commission(cid:146)s proposals for
the 6th Environmental Programme falls within the competence of the Commission.

(2001/C 89 E/098)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1817/00

by Raffaele Costa (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(8 June 2000)

Subject: Corrigenda to calls for proposals relating to the Interprise programme

Two corrigenda to calls for proposals relating to the Interprise programme were published in the Official
Journal of the European Communities (1). The first corrigendum refers to the call for proposals (2), two
points of which are amended. Firstly, the period for the execution of an Interprise project proposal is
halved from 12 months in the original version to 6 months, and the number of deadlines originally
envisaged for the submission of proposals is reduced from four to two, the deadlines 30 June 2000 and
30 September 2000 being cancelled.

The second corrigendum then completely cancels the call
concerning the organisation of Interprise events to be held in nine associated countries.

for proposals (3) (cid:129) to which it refers (cid:129)

Can the Commission say:

(cid:129) why it amended and then cancelled the calls for proposals;

(cid:129) whether it does not consider that these corrigenda made shortly before the envisaged deadlines
(already set in the Official Journal in 1999) adversely affected any organisations which were about to
organise or may already have organised events linked to the Interprise programme;

(cid:129) whether and how it

intends to re-issue the calls for proposals relating to the aforementioned

programme?

(1) OJ C 134, 13.5.2000, p. 18.
(2) OJ C 307, 26.10.1999.
(3) OJ C 69 of 10.3.2000.

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(17 July 2000)

The two corrigenda published (1) are in line with the new shift in Commission policy towards the analysis
and the drawing up of proposals of a political nature and a reduction in the direct management of projects
in the field. In order to concentrate more on its new tasks, such as benchmarking to help identify good
practice regarding enterprise policy, encouraging the spirit of enterprise, developing an environment suited
to innovation and guaranteeing access to the markets for products and services, the Commission has
decided to limit certain actions directly managed by its departments, including the Interprise programmes
and the (cid:145)International Buyers Exhibitions(cid:146) (IBEX). This does not call into question their merit (2).

In order not to prejudice the interests of tenderers who had already submitted a project, the Commission
left in force the first two deadlines of the call published (3). Projects submitted by these two deadlines have
been assessed. Some of them have already received the Commission(cid:146)s support.

For the call for proposals published (4) concerning the organisation of an Interprise event in each of the
associated countries, the corrigendum was published shortly before the deadline. Although some of the
potential
them had begun the
organisational work without the favourable opinion of the Commission. Those which had submitted a
proposal were informed by letter of the cancellation of the call for proposals.

tenderers may have invested time in preparing proposals, none of

20.3.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 89 E/93

Direct administrative and financial management by the Commission of the Interprise programme has
stopped. No extension of the deadlines is planned at present. However, the Commission is willing to
examine with the Member States how to ensure that a programme of this kind can continue without direct
management by the Commission.

(1) OJ C 134, 13.5.2000.
(2) Commission Communication of 26 April 2000, (cid:145)Challenges for enterprise policy in the knowledge-driven economy(cid:146),

COM(2000) 256 final.
(3) OJ C 307, 26.10.1999.
(4) OJ C 69, 10.3.2000.

(2001/C 89 E/099)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1837/00

by Monica Frassoni (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(31 May 2000)

Subject: Construction of an underground railway in Brescia, Italy

In reply to my Question No E-2176/99 (1) concerning the underground railway in Brescia, the Commission
confirmed the view that,
in accordance with Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997 on environmental
impact assessments (EIAS) (2), the project should be screened with a view to establishing whether the it
should be made subject to an EIA procedure. As far as we know, such screening, which is provided for in
Article 10 of the Presidential Decree of 12 April 1996, has not been carried out. In the meantime, an
invitation to tender for the public works involved has been issued by the Brescia Municipal Services
Agency, and the deadline for submission of tenders is 31 May 2000. That invitation to tender, which was
published in Official Journal (3), lays down no conditions or requirements for an environmental impact
assessment. On 31 March 2000, a memorandum of understanding was concluded between the Lombardy
Regional Council and the Brescia Provincial and Municipal Councils, under which the Regional Council
undertook to contribute ITL 165 billion towards the project. This means that the Lombardy Regional
Council, which is itself responsible for ensuring that the project is screened for EIA purposes, has in fact
agreed to finance part of the project before such screening has been performed.

How does the Commission intend to ensure that the necessary screening of the Brescia underground
railway project is actually performed?

How is it possible for an invitation to tender for the performance of work on a project which the
Commission itself has stated must be the subject of EIA screening to be published in the Official Journal of
the European Communities without such screening ever having been performed?

(1) OJ C 280 E, 3.10.2000, p. 15.
(2) OJ L 73, 14.3.1997, p. 5.
(3) OJ S 78, 20.4.2000.

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

(4 July 2000)

The Italian authorities have communicated that the development consent to the project mentioned by the
Honourable Member will be given only after the (cid:145)procedura di verifica di assoggettabilit(cid:224) a Valutazione di
Impatto Ambientale(cid:146) (screening) is carried out, under (cid:145)DPR 12 aprile 1996 Atto di indirizzo e coordina-
mento per l(cid:146)attuazione dell(cid:146)articolo 40 comma 1 della legge 22 febbraio 1994, n. 146, concernente
disposizioni in materia di valutazione di impatto ambientale(cid:146), national legislation transposing Annex II of
Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and
private projects on the environment (1) and under (cid:145)legge regionale 7 dicembre 1999, No 472(cid:146), legislation of