WRITTEN QUESTION E-3943/00 by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission. Cost of bank transfers.
Date: 2000-12-13
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: capital transfer, credit transfer, euro area, transfer pricing

21.8.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 235 E/35

Under the Drinking Water Directive (80/778/EEC), water for human consumption should not contain
pathogenic organisms. This would include the pathogen legionella. Therefore, if legionella was present in
the drinking water made available to the consumers of Alcoy (Valencia region, Spain) in the past months,
then this would have been a breach of Directive 80/778/EEC. The Commission has carefully noted all the
information provided by the Honourable Member in order to investigate the case. Accordingly, the
Commission will contact the Spanish authorities to obtain more information about this case, and will
seek assurance that all the necessary action has been taken to ensure that this situation will not be
repeated.

(2001/C 235 E/038)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3924/00

by Michael Cashman (PSE) to the Commission

(13 December 2000)

Subject: Transparency of meetings

Can the Commission confirm if there exists any Member State legislation or EU legislation requiring
deliberations of governing/decision-making boards or commissions to be open to the public?

This subject is particularly pertinent considering the current reform process being undertaken within the
European Union institutions.

The Commission should note that in the USA this requirement is embedded in Federal and State legislation
(See Title 5, US Code, section 552b, 5 U.S.C, sec. 552b).

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(8 March 2001)

The Commission is not aware of legislation in any of the Member States requiring the deliberations of
decision-making bodies to be open to the public. As a general rule, debates in elected assemblies are open
to the public while the work of executive bodies is not. The rules of procedure of each of the Community
institutions contains provisions governing publication of their deliberations.

(2001/C 235 E/039)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3943/00

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(13 December 2000)

Subject: Cost of bank transfers

1. Will the Commission estimate the average or typical cost to a commercial bank customer of a transfer
worth € 50 to another bank customer:

(a) within each of the Member States;

(b) between each Member State within the eurozone and each other Member State within the eurozone?

Is it the objective of the Commission that the cost of all banking transfers within the euro area,

2.
including cross-border transfers, should be the same as it is in individual Member States?

C 235 E/36

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

21.8.2001

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(15 February 2001)

1.

(a) The Commission does not dispose of sufficient information to be able to estimate the average or
typical price of a credit transfer of € 50 between two banks within each Member State. There are
approximately 10 000 banks within the Community and each determines its own price policy. The fact
that a bank(cid:146)s customer is either not charged directly or only in a non-transparent manner (with a price
for each transaction) does not mean that the client pays nothing (cross-subsidising, package prices,
etc.). Payment transfers involve costs.

(b) The Commission has no information on the price of a € 50 cross-border credit transfer. However,
a study carried out by the (cid:145)Institut EuropØen InterrØgional de la Consommation(cid:146) in autumn 1999
showed that the average fee for a cross-border credit transfer of € 100 from one country of the Euro-
zone to another was approximately € 17. Details of transfers between some individual pairs of banks
in the Euro-zone can be found at the web-site
(www.europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/health_consumer/library/surveys/sur14_en.html).

On the basis of the results of this study, and if we disregard arguments about methodology, it may be
concluded that the difference in price for domestic and cross-border credit transfers is very high.

2.
The Commission shares the Honourable Member(cid:146)s concern about the problem of the high prices for
cross-border payments. Cross border transfers are still significantly more expensive than domestic ones. It
is the aim of the Commission to render cross-border payments, especially low value payments, more
reliable,
less costly and faster. This has been repeated by the Commission on numerous occasions;
e.g. Communication (cid:145)Retail Payments in the Internal Market(cid:146) of January 2000 (1), reply to the Peijs-Report
in the Parliament on 26 October 2000, the Commission(cid:146)s round table conference (cid:145)Establishing a Single
Payment Area(cid:146) on 9 November 2000 (2).

(1) COM(2000) 36 final.
(2)

(see web-site www.europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/internal_market/index_en.html).

(2001/C 235 E/040)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3948/00

by Pere Esteve (ELDR) to the Council

(20 December 2000)

Subject: The Catalan language in the European Union

The lobby group (cid:145)Joves de Mallorca per la Llengua(cid:146), an organisation working for the linguistic standardisa-
tion of Catalan in Majorca, with more than 40 branches and totalling more than 18 000 members, asked
the MEP Pere Esteve to table a question to the Council.

2001 will be European Year of Languages, the Charter of Fundamental Rights has just been approved (cid:129)
which guarantees that shall be no discrimination on the basis of language (cid:129) and there is talk of the
European heritage, which includes linguistic diversity in Europe.

The Catalan language, spoken by more than 8 million people, is the most widely spoken non-official
language in the European Union. In the near future (cid:129) with the prospect of enlargement (cid:129) Catalan will
continue to be by far the most widely spoken non-official language. From all points of view Catalan does
not deserve to be treated as a minority language.

Does the Council intend to take any measure to ensure that Catalan receives more recognition than it does
at present in the European institutions?