WRITTEN QUESTION P-3959/00 by Vitaliano Gemelli (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Banking interests: is the Commission supporting the ABI (Italian Banking Association) or the general public?.
Date: 2000-12-08
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European social policy, Italy, consumer credit, consumer protection, interest

19.6.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 174 E/199

Documents are sent by the Commission to the Council rather than to specific Council formations.
2.
There is therefore no list of Ecofin documents available within the Commission. A list of documents
dealing with economic and financial matters which have been sent by the Commission to the Council
during the last quarter of the year 2000 is sent directly to the Honourable Member and to the Parliament(cid:146)s
Secretariat.

3.
The Commission does not keep a list of all documents received by it from the Council. In accordance
with the provisions of the Code of Conduct on public access to Commission documents of 8 February
1994 (1), requests for documents written by other bodies should be addressed to the author of such
documents.

(1) OJ L 46, 18.2.1994.

(2001/C 174 E/211)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3952/00

by Glenys Kinnock (PSE) to the Commission

(13 December 2000)

Subject: Index-linking of war pensions

Will the Commission investigate the question of war pensions being index-linked or means-tested in the
Member States of the European Union?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(5 February 2001)

The matter of compensation of war victims remains a responsibility of the Member States. The Commis-
sion has no powers to investigate this matter, and Member States have so far not expressed an interest in
exchanging information on war pensions in the framework of the Community institutions.

(2001/C 174 E/212)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3959/00

by Vitaliano Gemelli (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(8 December 2000)

Subject: Banking interests:

is the Commission supporting the ABI (Italian Banking Association) or the

general public?

With reference to the problems arising from the Italian Constitutional Court(cid:146)s judgment 425/2000, which
establishes the unlawfulness of recalculating interest on financing, can the Commission say:

(cid:129) whether it is true that the ABI, in order to avoid refunding amounts wrongfully collected from clients,
has approached the European Commission and, more specifically the Commissioner for Competition,
or other Commissioners;

(cid:129) whether it is true that the ABI has obtained assurances, from quarters not clearly specified by the
Commission, that the Commission itself may take steps to safeguard banks to the detriment of the
general public, who are victims of an unjust system;

(cid:129) whether it does not consider that it should take general measures aimed at preventing the European
and Italian banking systems from continuing to have a relationship with its customers which in many
cases is totally one-sided, and re-establish the balance of power in favour of the client.

C 174 E/200

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

19.6.2001

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(24 January 2001)

The questions put by the Honourable Member concern the problems of compound interest raised by the
Italian Constitutional Court(cid:146)s judgment 425/00.

They can be answered as follows:

(cid:129) Outside the routine contacts between the Commission and the ABI (Italian Banking Association), no
discussion has taken place that has dealt specifically with compound interest. However,
two
complaints have been lodged with the Commission by, on the one hand, ABI and AIBE (Italian
External Banking Association) and, on the other, the European Banking Federation regarding Italian
Law 108/96 on usury. They have been registered under No 2000/5209. By letter of 22 December
2000, the Internal Market Directorate-General called on the Italian to present its observations on this
entire matter.

(cid:129) The Commission formally denies having given anyone whatsoever assurances along the lines indicated
by the Honourable Member. On the contrary, its policy is to strike a balance between the interests at
stake since the single market can be achieved only if there is complete confidence between consumers
providers of services. The Financial Services Action Plan, which is being implemented, has announced
and pursued in unambiguous manner this balanced approach.

(cid:129) The Commission is aware of the problems of compound interest, which will be examined generally at
European level as part of the review of Council Directive 87/102/EEC of 22 December 1986 on the
approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions concerning consumer credit (1).
However, the rules of Council Directive 93/13/EEC on unfair terms in consumer contracts (2), the
application of which is the responsibility of the national authorities, seem suited to tackling, where
necessary, the problems posed by Italian banking contracts, notably as regards interest.

The Commission takes the view that the existing legal framework at European level thus already allows the
national authorities to remedy any situations of imbalance between financial operators and consumers.

It will be certain to act to ensure compliance with the rules on competition laid down in Articles 81 and
81 (former Articles 85 and 86) of the EC Treaty, notably as regards the information recently made
available to its Competition Directorate-General by a consumer association.

(1) OJ L 42, 12.2.1987.
(2) OJ L 95, 21.4.1993.

(2001/C 174 E/213)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3962/00

by Elspeth Attwooll (ELDR) to the Commission

(8 December 2000)

Subject: Fisheries agreement between the European Union and Senegal

In the light of the forthcoming re-negotiation of the agreement between the Government of the Republic
of Senegal and the European Union on fishing off the coast of Senegal, can the Commission confirm its
awareness that local fishermen in Senegal and other West African states have expressed strong concerns
over the negative impact of European fisheries upon their livelihoods?

Specific complaints have centred around the fact that illegal fishing has taken place, local fishing gear has
been damaged with fatal consequences and little compensation from the fishing agreements accrues to the
local fishermen and the surrounding communities.