WRITTEN QUESTION E-0744/01 by François Bayrou (PPE-DE) to the Commission. European Development Fund and health policy.
Date: 2001-03-09
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: ACP countries, AIDS, European Development Fund, disease prevention, endemic disease, health aid, public health

C 318 E/114

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

13.11.2001

the moment

full unbundled access is being provided in eight Member States, with a total of
At
introduction of full
approximately 376 000 lines now fully unbundled.
unbundled access is imminent or at
the state of
implementation of this regulation will be sent directly to the Honourable Member and to the secretariat
general of the Parliament.

In the other Member States,

the trial stage. The most

recent overview of

As a general principle it can be expected that the process of liberalisation gives rise to reduction in costs.
The Commission has not yet received enough information about the tariff structures applied by the
Member States in order to publish economic data reaching the necessary level of significance needed. The
Commission is however closely following the implementation of Community laws in the Member States.
As soon as the appropriate level of significance of
this
information will be made available. The development of competition in the telecommunications sector
since 1 January 1998 has been no exception. The reduction in the cost of Internet access which has been
seen in some Member States may be partly attributable to the adoption of the Regulation, but could also
be related to other positive developments in the market, e.g. the determination of flat rate call origination
tariffs in a number of Member States.

the reduction in costs has been reached,

(1) OJ L 336, 30.12.2000.

(2001/C 318 E/120)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0744/01

by Fran(cid:231)ois Bayrou (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: European Development Fund and health policy

(9 March 2001)

Given the new ACP-EU agreements signed in Cotonou on 23 June 2000, the funds available under the
Ninth EDF (€ 13 800 million) and, finally, the resolution adopted at the most recent meeting of the
it appears
Development Council on 10 November 2000 on transmissible diseases and poverty,
incontrovertible that the Commission and Council constantly renew the support given by the European
Union and its Member States to the ACP States, with particular regard to public health policy.

Accordingly, would the Commission please indicate the funds made available to certain organisations
renowned for their campaigns against handicaps such as blindness (Institute for Tropical Ophthalmology
in Africa (cid:129) IOTA (cid:129) which has its headquarters in Bamako, Mali) following the dissolution in particular of
the Cooperation and Coordination Organisation for the Control of the Major Endemic Diseases, in the
knowledge that funds must be made available for campaigns to treat transmissible diseases such as AIDS
but that such funds must not be provided at the expense of the campaigns against the major endemic
diseases which are, unfortunately, still present in a large number of African countries?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(16 May 2001)

The Commission recognises the importance of maintaining a high level of support to public health policy
in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states. Commitment to health remains high, and the Commission
has included the fight against poverty with a particular focus on health and education among its priorities
for 2002. The Commission anticipates that many ACP states will define health as a priority area during the
programming of 9th European development fund (EDF) funds.

The Commission accepts that accelerated action against the major communicable diseases,
including
human immuno-deficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), must not be at the
expense of work on health policy and endemic diseases, particularly within Africa. Most Community
funding for health, AIDS and population supports national efforts to strengthen health systems and will
continue to do so.

The Community funds various initiatives related to communicable diseases and their resulting disability.
The Commission supports the Onchocerciasis Control Programme and the Programme of Support to the
Fight Against Blindness. The latter programme includes support to the reorganisation of the Institute of
Tropical Ophthalmology (IOTA) as an autonomous organisation attached to the Ministry of Health of Mali.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 318 E/115

The Commission views the merging of the IOTA(cid:146)s parent organisation, the OCCGE (Organisation de
Contr(cid:244)le des Grandes EndØmies), with its anglophone equivalent
to create the West-African Health
Organisation (WAHO) as a rational approach. The Community also supports approaches that aim to
strengthen regional public health co-operation. Examples in West Africa include the ARIVA project
(promoting immunisation independence in ten countries); the APPA project (strengthening pharmaceutical
policy in 22 countries); and ASURE (support for the West African Epidemiological Surveillance Network).
The Commission anticipates that such regional support will continue to be provided under the 9th EDF.

(2001/C 318 E/121)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0757/01

by W.G. van Velzen (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(7 March 2001)

Subject: Rendering inoperative by the Netherlands government of certain articles in the Electric Power

Production Sector (Transitional Arrangements) Act

The Netherlands government announced on 30 January 2001, in response to questions in the Second
Chamber, that it had rendered inoperative a large number of articles in the Electric Power Production
Sector (Transitional Arrangements) Act.

When did the Netherlands government have contact with the Commission about rendering a large number
of articles in the Electric Power Production Sector (Transitional Arrangements) Act inoperative?

Has the Commission set or proposed to the Netherlands government a standstill period as regards
implementation of the liberalisation of the electricity sector? If so, how long is this standstill period to last?
And has the Commission set a standstill period for other Member States and, if so, what consequences
does this have for the liberalisation of the whole electricity sector in the European Union?

Can it state what
26 September 2000?

follow-up action has been taken in response to Mr van Velzen(cid:146)s question of

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(25 April 2001)

The Dutch government has not been in contact with the Commission concerning the rendering inoperative
of certain articles of the Transitional Law on the electricity production sector.

The Commission has not asked for a standstill period regarding the Dutch process of market opening, nor
has it suggested that this could be considered.

The Commission will shortly ask the Dutch authorities to provide further information regarding the
reservation of capacity on the interconnectors to determine the reasonableness and proportionality of the
measures taken within their objective (cid:129) the protection of the long-term Samenwerkende Elektriciteits-
produktiebedrijven (SEP) contracts. Once this information has been received it expects to be in a position
to reach a rapid conclusion on the issue.

the
As indicated in the answer
Commission is continuing to examine the applicability of the competition rules, especially as the facts of
the situation recently changed. As for the problem regarding State aid, the Commission has, most recently,
sent a letter on the matter to the Dutch Government, dated 19 February 2001.

to Written Question P-3106/00 by the Honourable Member (1),

(1) OJ C 136 E, 8.5.2001.