WRITTEN QUESTION P-3392/00 by Helena Torres Marques (PSE) to the Commission. Taxation of Community aid to farmers.
Date: 2000-10-25
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU aid, aid to agriculture, tax collection

22.5.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 151 E/157

coal industry. The great majority of these investigations concern aid schemes for which the names of the
benefiting companies are not known to the Commission. As for direct investigations into companies,
reference is made to the Commission(cid:146)s annual reports on competition policy. It is not possible for the
Commission to indicate the extent to which the undertakings concerned are connected to the water
industries and manufacturing linked to them.

(2001/C 151 E/178)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3392/00

by Helena Torres Marques (PSE) to the Commission

(25 October 2000)

Subject: Taxation of Community aid to farmers

Is it the case that the income support made available to farmers from Community funds may be taxed in
the country of residence and hence be partially (cid:145)clawed back(cid:146) by the Member State concerned?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(21 November 2000)

The Commission is of the opinion that income support made available to farmers from Community funds
may be subjected to national duties, taxes and charges, although not to taxes specifically levied on income
support. The taxation in the Member State of residence and hence a possible (cid:145)claw back(cid:146) by the Member
State concerned is determined by the relevant national tax laws and, in cross-border situations, by the
bilateral tax agreements between the Member States. Member States(cid:146) taxation systems vary considerably
both in scope and in levels of taxation. In cross-border situations, the bilateral tax agreements apply a
range of different rules to prevent double taxation between the two Member States involved in the case of
income arising in one Member State and paid to a resident of another.

(2001/C 151 E/179)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3400/00

by Luciano Caveri (ELDR) to the Commission

(7 November 2000)

Subject: CD-ROM published by the Commission

In the CD-ROM (cid:145)Hello Europe (cid:129) A youth guide to Europe and the European Union(cid:146) published by the
Commission, Directorate-General for (cid:145)Information, Communication, Culture and Audiovisual(cid:146), (cid:145)Publications(cid:146)
Unit, and distributed by the Official Publications Office of the European Communities, there is a difference
in the way that minority languages in the Member States are treated.

One need only go to the description of Spain and Italy and click on (cid:145)If you want to know more(cid:146) and then
on (cid:145)Listen to the language(cid:146) to see this difference:

(cid:129) Spain:

(cid:145)The official

language is Castilian, often simply called (cid:147)Spanish(cid:148). In some regions Catalan,

Basque and Galician are also official languages(cid:146);

(cid:129) Italian: (cid:145)Our language is Italian and the capital is Rome(cid:146).

Why does the CD-ROM not describe the linguistic diversity of Italy, exemplified by the use of French in
Valle D(cid:146)Aosta and German in South Tyrol?