WRITTEN QUESTION E-3946/00 by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission. Ecofin documents.
Date: 2000-12-13
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: access to EU information, economic forecasting

C 174 E/198

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

19.6.2001

(2001/C 174 E/209)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3945/00

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(13 December 2000)

Subject: Euro conversion costs

Will the Commission please estimate the costs of converting national notes and coins into physical euro
notes and coin (cid:129) including the costs of printing notes, minting coins, amendment IT systems and so forth
(cid:129) in each participating Member State and express this as a percentage of GDP?

If it has not made such estimates itself, will the Commission please cite such estimates as are available
from private sector and academic sources, giving their full range, and pointing to the uncertainties
involved?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(31 January 2001)

The Commission has not made estimates of the costs of the changeover to the euro.

The Commission is of the opinion that such costs, to be undertaken by the public authorities and private
economic actors, should be seen as an investment which accrues significant overall economic benefits as a
result of the creation of the single currency.

In addition, the Commission refers to the answer it provided to the Written Question No E-2741/00 by
Mrs Villiers (1).

(1) OJ C 89 E, 20.3.2001, p. 219.

(2001/C 174 E/210)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3946/00

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(13 December 2000)

Subject: Ecofin documents

1. Will the Commission make available the detailed forecast documents for its latest forecast equivalent
to last year(cid:146)s documents ECFIN/600/99-EN and ECFIN/599/99-EN?

2. Will the Commission list the documents that have been made available by it to the Council of
Economic and Finance Ministers (Ecofin) in the last three months?

3. Will the Commission list the documents that have been received by it from the Council of Economic
and Finance Ministers (Ecofin) in the last three months?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(15 February 2001)

1.
The Commission(cid:146)s economic forecasts were presented by the member of the Commission responsible
for economic and financial affairs on 22 November 2000. The documents ECFIN/620/00 and ECFIN/621/
00, which are equivalent to last year(cid:146)s documents ECFIN/600/99 and ECFIN/599/99, were made available
on that date and can be obtained from the secretariat of unit ECFIN-B-5 (cid:145)Forecasts and economic situation(cid:146).
Document 621/00 has moreover been published in European Economy (Supplement A; No 10/11 October/
November 2000), which is also available in extenso on the website of the Directorate-General
for
Economic and Financial Affairs: http://europa.eu.int/comm/economy_finance/.

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.