WRITTEN QUESTION E-2732/00 by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Council. Council secrecy.
Date: 2000-08-03
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Council of Ministers, professional secret, public conduct of debates

6.6.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 163 E/5

In any event, the Council has not yet completed its examination of Chapter 14 (Energy) of the acquis that
the applicant countries will have to accept.

(1) See 13677/98 (Presse 431-G).

(2001/C 163 E/005)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2719/00

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(1 September 2000)

Subject: State aid in agriculture

What is the Commission(cid:146)s estimate of the amount of state aid paid per person engaged in agriculture in
each of the Member States each year for the last five years for which figures are available?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(8 November 2000)

The State aid dossiers notified to the Commission include both individual draft aid programmes and
schemes which can cover several years, with a rather vague estimated number of beneficiaries and for
which the financial allocation is adopted each year by regional authorities and can stray from the initial
estimate (depending on budgetary resources available at the time).

In these circumstances, the Commission is not in a position to compile all the data needed to provide
accurate figures in reply to the Honourable Member(cid:146)s question. Nor do the Community-wide figures
published by the Commission in its Eighth Survey on State Aid, based on data provided by the countries of
the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), answer the Honourable Member(cid:146)s
question, because the expenditure included covers more than just State aid as such.

However, statistical data providing a partial answer to the question can be found in the Commission(cid:146)s
Eighth Survey on State Aid in the European Union (1), in its report on Agriculture in the European Union
(cid:129) statistical and economic data in 1999 (2), and in the OECD(cid:146)s publication on agricultural policies in
OECD countries: monitoring and evaluation 1999 (3).

(1) COM(2000) 205 final.
(2) http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg06/index.htm (cid:129) Agricultural statistics.
(3) OECD. Paris: OECD, 1999.

(2001/C 163 E/006)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2732/00

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Council

(3 August 2000)

Subject: Council secrecy

Apart from the Council of Ministers, which other legislatives meet in secret?

C 163 E/6

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

6.6.2001

Reply

(12 February 2001)

Article 6(1) of the Council(cid:146)s Rules of Procedure (1) states that (cid:145)the deliberations of the Council shall be
covered by the obligation of professional secrecy, except in so far as the Council decides otherwise(cid:146).
Article 8 of the Rules of Procedure provides for the holding of public debates in certain cases, while
Article 9 lays down rules enabling deliberations to be made public in many cases.

The Council is not in a position to speak for the (cid:145)other legislatives(cid:146) to which the Honourable Member
refers in his question, and would in any case remind him that it has a dual, legislative and governmental,
role which sets it apart from such other bodies.

Where the Council acts in its legislative capacity, the results of votes and explanations of votes by Council
members, as well as statements in the Council minutes, are to be made public. The same largely applies to
documents relating to decisions taken by the Council when acting in its legislative capacity. The public
register of Council documents, accessible via the Internet, makes it easy to identify the documents in
question and to submit an application for access under Council Decision 93/731/EC.

(1) OJ L 149, 23.6.2000, p. 21.

(2001/C 163 E/007)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2737/00

by Charles Tannock (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(1 September 2000)

Subject: WTO rules governing animal welfare

What restrictions are placed on animal welfare as a result of agreements signed by the European Union
under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation, and what steps are being taken to ensure that farmers
within the European Union who improve animal welfare do not suffer commercial disadvantage as a result,
compared with farmers outside the European Union?

Answer given by Mr Lamy on behalf of the Commission

(17 October 2000)

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) does not prevent the Community from taking measures which are
seen as essential for animal welfare, i.e. adopting high standards within its borders. In the Community a
comprehensive set of legislation exists covering a wide range of issues relating to animal welfare. It is the
Commission(cid:146)s view that the Community should not unilaterally impose its welfare-based production
standards on third countries. The Community needs to respect other countries(cid:146) sovereignty and their
right to set their own national standards.

The Community tabled a paper on animal welfare at the last meeting of the WTO agricultural committee
at the end of June 2000 (1). In this paper, the objectives of the Community are clearly spelled out, namely
ensuring that trade does not undermine our efforts in improving the protection of the welfare of animals,
and avoiding trade protectionism.

The Community paper suggests several ways of addressing the issue in the WTO framework, which are
not mutually exclusive. These are the development of multilateral agreements, appropriate labelling,
accepting some sort of compensation to contribute to the additional costs.

The Community believes that detailed examination in the WTO of these approaches would allow the issue
of animal welfare to be addressed adequately within the WTO without conflicting with the long-term
objective of trade liberalisation in agricultural and food products.