WRITTEN QUESTION P-0195/01 by Christian Rovsing (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Danish Government sale of bus company Combus A/S.
Date: 2001-01-29
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Denmark, State aid, capital increase, competition law, control of State aid, transport company

21.8.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 235 E/153

(2001/C 235 E/178)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0195/01

by Christian Rovsing (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Danish Government sale of bus company Combus A/S

(29 January 2001)

Is it the Commission(cid:146)s view that the Danish Government(cid:146)s sale of the bus company, Combus A/S, (officially
announced on 15 January 2001) to the British-owned company Arriva was carried out in accordance with
EU competition rules? Is it also the Commission(cid:146)s view that the Danish Government(cid:146)s undertaking, given as
part of the related agreement, to provide a special grant of DKK 140 million for the purchaser (cid:129) in
addition to the DKK 300 million granted Combus A/S as aid in 1999 without EU notification (cid:129) is
consistent with the provisions of the Treaty on state aid?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(6 March 2001)

The Commission has been informed by the Danish Government that it has decided to sell Combus A/S to
Arriva Danmark A/S and that a sales agreement, which includes injection of capital from the Danish State
into Combus A/S, was signed on 15 January 2001. The Commission is currently examining both the
capital injection in 1999 and the intended capital injection with respect to the compatibility with the
EC Treaty. This investigation includes the terms of the sales agreement. The Commission cannot prejudge
the outcome of this investigation, but it will make every effort to finalise the case as quickly as possible.

(2001/C 235 E/179)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0197/01

by Hiltrud Breyer (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

Subject: Non-application of Article 4(3) of Directive 90/220

(29 January 2001)

1.
Is the Commission aware that at the EU(cid:146)s external ports such as Corunna, Tarragona, Rotterdam and
Hamburg there are practically no systematic, watertight inspections of genetically modified products but, at
the most, spot checks?

Has the Commission any information on the precise scale of the limited number of spot checks (as

2.
a percentage)?

How does the Commission ensure that the Member States allow onto the market only those GM

3.
products in the Community that are expressly approved?

4.
Since the U.S. approves GM products that are not approved in the EU, should not imports from non-
Member States and in particular the U.S. (especially maize and soya) be systematically checked for the
presence of GM material?

5.
How do the Commission and the Member States obtain their information, given that there is no seed
register in the U.S.? Are we to understand that neither the Commission nor the Member States are fully
informed as to which GM varieties originating in the U.S. or other non-Member States are on the market
and could be imported into the EU?

6.
Do (a) the Commission, (b) the Member States(cid:146) authorities actually have tests for all GMOs grown in
the U.S.? If so, could you please list those tests. If not, how can inspections be carried out without any
tests?