WRITTEN QUESTION P-0278/01 by Jean-Charles Marchiani (UEN) to the Commission. European Union subsidies to twinned towns.
Date: 2001-02-02
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU aid, management, preliminary draft EC budget, promotion of the European idea, twinning

3.7.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 187 E/211

In any event, the question of payment of a debt when the identity of the creditor is uncertain arises in
many other areas apart from resale rights, and the Member States have well established rules. The persons
referred to in Article 9 will therefore only have to follow the procedures prescribed in their national
legislation.

Establishing a centralised European register of all qualifying artists and their heirs would therefore seem to
be a pointless administrative formality, and the Commission has no such intention.

The Honourable Member also wonders about the scope of Article 5. The Commission confirms that the
selling price taken as the basis for calculating the resale right must not include any of the taxes, such as
VAT, normally added to the net price. This Directive is therefore without prejudice to the tax systems in
force in the Member States.

(1) OJ C 300, 20.10.2000.

(2001/C 187 E/232)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0275/01

by Charles Tannock (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(2 February 2001)

Subject: Noise Regulations in the European Union

Will the Commission say whether there are any European regulations covering noise emanating from
domestic premises which would protect domestic residents from excessive noise coming from their
neighbours(cid:146) residences?

Answer given by Mrs Wallstr(cid:246)m on behalf of the Commission

(9 March 2001)

At this time there are no regulations at Community level against neighbourhood noise, as raised by the
Honourable Member.

The Member States do not currently apply harmonised indicators of noise that relate to so-called
environmental or man-made noise. This aspect will be covered by the proposal for a Directive of the
Parliament and the Council relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise (1) adopted
by the Commission on 26 July 2000.

The legislative proposal is currently under discussion in the Parliament and Council.

(1) OJ C 337 E, 28.11.2000.

(2001/C 187 E/233)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0278/01

by Jean-Charles Marchiani (UEN) to the Commission

Subject: European Union subsidies to twinned towns

(2 February 2001)

In 1989, the European Parliament took the initiative of creating a budget heading designed to support
town-twinning in Europe; as well as promoting relations between citizens of EU countries, this European
Union aid is more crucial than ever both for regular endeavours at a local level and for exchanges between
people of different countries, areas and cultures.

C 187 E/212

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

3.7.2001

In an announcement made at the end of summer 2000, the Commission indicated that because of a lack
of budget appropriations the programme for 2000 would be brought to a close sooner than had been
planned. Additionally, it seems that a more selective and discouraging procedure is be introduced, to
reduce the number of applications the Commission has to handle.

In view of the success of the vast town-twinning movement in Europe, does the Commission not, on the
contrary, consider it vital to propose a significant increase in the appropriations granted for European
town-twinning as part of the next preliminary draft budget for 2002?

Will the Commission also confirm its intention to take pains to ensure that the procedure for submitting
applications remains accessible to the largest possible number of local authorities, and in particular to the
smallest ones, and to this end to ensure it has adequate means to make the procedure better, more flexible
and faster?

Finally, will the Commission say what criteria it considered relevant in taking the decision to propose
measures which will clearly have an adverse impact on European town-twinning?

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(28 March 2001)

The Commission is aware of the importance of the initiative to promote town twinning and believes that
efficient and transparent management of this procedure is crucial to its success.

Due to the significant increase in the number of applications in recent years, the time required to process
applications had increased considerably; in addition, the volume of subsidies applied for had eventually
exceeded the available budget resources.

In order to improve the management of this initiative at all levels (cid:129) selection, distribution of aid over the
year, rapid processing of applications (cid:129) the Commission has decided, following consultation with the
organisations which play an active part in the promotion of town twinning, to introduce for 2001 the call
for proposals procedure normally used for managing Commission subsidies. This procedure takes account
towns,
of
irrespective of their size, and an equitable distribution of available funds throughout the year. A meeting
with the representative organisations is planned in the course of 2001 to evaluate the new procedure.

twinning and was designed to ensure broad access for all

the specific characteristics of

The Commission recognises the importance of town-twinning measures in developing participative and
active European citizenship. The estimate of the allocation to be provided for twinning in the 2002
preliminary draft budget (PDB) will take account of the current evaluation of the general constraints the
Commission will experience in drawing up the preliminary draft budget.

(2001/C 187 E/234)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0287/01

by Mark Watts (PSE) to the Commission

(9 February 2001)

Subject: The welfare of broiler chickens

On 21 March 2000, the Commission(cid:146)s Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare
adopted a report (cid:145)The welfare of chickens kept for meat production (broilers)(cid:146), which concluded that the
broiler industry(cid:146)s determination to achieve fast growth rates leads to many broiler chickens suffering from
painful leg disorders and to broilers dying of heart failure. The Scientific Committee also indicated that the
stocking density must be 25 kg/m2 for major welfare problems to be largely avoided and that above
30 kg/m2, even with very good environmental control systems, there is a steep rise in the frequency of