WRITTEN QUESTION E-3948/00 by Pere Esteve (ELDR) to the Council. The Catalan language in the European Union.
Date: 2000-12-20
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Balearic Islands, Catalonia, anti-discriminatory measure, competence of the Member States, linguistic discrimination, minority language

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?

21.8.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 235 E/37

Reply

(7 May 2001)

the European year of

to which the
The measures undertaken in the context of
Honourable Parliamentarian refers, according to article 1 of the decision (1) establishing it, (cid:145)will cover the
official languages of the Community, together with Irish, Letzerburgesch, and other languages in line with
those identified by the Member States for the purposes of implementing this Decision.(cid:146) While fully
acknowledging the richness of the linguistic diversity of the Community (including the Catalan language),
the Council considers, as is clear from the above as well as in the formulation of Article 149 of the
EC Treaty and indeed in the principle of subsidiarity in general, that the responsibility for that cultural and
linguistic diversity lies with the Member States.

languages 2001,

(1) Decision No 1934/2000/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 July 2000 on the European Year

of Languages 2001 (OJ L 232, 14.2.2000, p. 1).

(2001/C 235 E/041)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3950/00

by Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann (GUE/NGL) to the Council

(20 December 2000)

Subject: Introduction of the euro in the Yugoslav Republic of Montenegro

1.
Is the Council aware whether and, if so, how and by what specific means and to what extent the
Government of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Bundesbank have supported and
promoted the introduction of the Deutschmark in the Yugoslav Republic of Montenegro?

2. What is the Council(cid:146)s view of the declared intention of the Government of the Yugoslav Republic of
Montenegro of introducing the euro as its sole currency with effect from 1 January 2002?

3.
Does the Council believe that the Yugoslav Republic of Montenegro currently fulfils, or can fulfil by
1 January 2002, the stability criteria for membership of the single currency set out in the Treaties (in
particular, in Article 121 of the EU Treaty and Protocols 11 and 12 to the Amsterdam Treaty)?

4. What specific action to prevent the introduction of the euro in Montenegro will be taken by the
Council, in the light of section III.3 of the Commission(cid:146)s most recent strategy paper on enlargement, which
states that the introduction of the euro in new Member States (as in the case of the original Euro-zone
participants) will only be decided when it has been ascertained, in accordance with Article 121 of the EU
Treaty, whether a high degree of sustainable convergence has been achieved?

5.
Does the Council know whether the euro is also to be introduced in the Yugoslav region of Kosovo
from 2002 and, if so, does Kosovo, in the opinion of the Council, fulfil the stability criteria enshrined in
the EU Treaty and applying to all States participating, or wishing to participate, in the single currency?

6. What specific action does the Council propose taking in order to prevent the introduction of the
euro in Kosovo if the latter does not achieve the stability criteria for membership of the euro by 2002?

How does the Council view the introduction of the Deutschmark in Montenegro and Kosovo in the
the Federal Republic of

7.
light of UN Resolution 1244, which establishes the territorial
Yugoslavia?

integrity of

8. What are the consequences, in the view of the Council, of the fact that 33 % of all Deutschmark
notes and coins are in circulation abroad, and what are the consequences as regards the resistance of the
euro to forgery?