WRITTEN QUESTION P-0897/01 by Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. CAP net transfers.
Date: 2001-03-19
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Portugal, common agricultural policy, economic and social cohesion, net contributor

18.9.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 261 E/213

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(23 May 2001)

Since 1988, the Commission (the Statistical Office of the European Communities (cid:129) (Eurostat)) has
collected and published statistics on extra- and intra-Community trade. The information sources for these
statistics are customs declarations for the extra-Community data and Intrastat declarations for intra-
Community data. Data on trade in depleted uranium is collected on the basis of the products defined in
the following subheadings of the combined nomenclature:

Subheading 2844.30-11:

(cid:129) Cermets containing uranium depleted in U 235 or compounds of this product.

Subheading 2844.30-19:

(cid:129) Uranium depleted into U 235; alloys, dispersions, ceramic products and mixtures containing uranium

depleted in U 235 or compounds of this product (excluding cermets).

Subheading 2844.30-91:

(cid:129) Compounds of uranium depleted in U 235 or of thorium, whether or not mixed together (Euratom)

other than thorium salts.

Individual figures for uranium depleted in U 235 are not available.

Note: For certain Member States,
2844.30-91 is confidential and therefore not published.

trade in products coming under subheadings 2844.30-19 and

By way of example, figures on the above-mentioned products have been supplied in an annex that has
been sent to the Honourable Member directly as well as to the Parliament(cid:146)s Secretariat.

(2001/C 261 E/243)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0897/01

by Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(19 March 2001)

Subject: CAP net transfers

On 31 January 2001, the Commission presented its second report on economic and social cohesion. In
table A.26 of the annex, concerning CAP net transfers, the Commission reaches the conclusion that
Portugal, one of the EU(cid:146)s poorest countries, is a net CAP contributor, despite the fact that the amount
contributed fell between 1993 and 1998.
In its first report on economic and social cohesion, the
Commission had reached the same conclusion.

Can the Commission provide me with:

(cid:129) the preliminary data for all the Member States, and the method employed for the calculations, which
were used to arrive at the conclusions of table A.26, given that these details are not explained on
pages 12 and 13 of COM(2000) 24 nor the annexes thereto;

(cid:129) the figures (net contributors and beneficiaries)

for all

the Member States from 1994 to 2001

(estimated), at standard prices;

(cid:129) if possible, the figures for the same period offset by the intra Community trade flows in and out of

each Member State?

C 261 E/214

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.9.2001

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(8 May 2001)

The Commission is sending the Honourable Member and Parliament(cid:146)s Secretariat a copy of the results of
the study used as the basis for the section on the contribution of the common agricultural policy to
cohesion in the Second Report on Economic and Social Cohesion (1).

(1) COM(2001) 24 final.

(2001/C 261 E/244)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0898/01

by Renato Brunetta (PPE-DE), Francesco Fiori (PPE-DE),
Vitaliano Gemelli (PPE-DE), Raffaele Lombardo (PPE-DE), Cristiana Muscardini (UEN),
Francesco Speroni (TDI) and Antonio Tajani (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(28 March 2001)

Subject: Divergences between estimates and final figures in Italian macroeconomic data: impact on the

Commission(cid:146)s assessments

On 1 March 2001 ISTAT (the Italian National Statistical Institute) published the annual final figures for the
Italian national accounts, with its estimates for gross domestic product (GDP) for 2000 and corrections of
the estimates for 1997-1999 with respect to the estimates given last year.

These data reveal considerable variations concerning household consumption (+ 1,5 %), imports (+ 1,5 %),
investments (+ 1,3 %) and GDP (+ 0,7 %).

It is difficult to reconcile the data issued for 2000 with the statistical information that had been made
available to date. The average revision to the GDP growth rate for the three-year period 1997-1999 is over
14 %, the household consumption growth rate has been revised by over 30 % and the growth rate in
investments by over 70 %.

ISTAT has also issued a list of the new statistical sources on which it has based the revision of its
estimates. There is a significant discrepancy between the signals which emerge from data on economic
trends (including the national quarterly economic accounts) and the annual final data.

The conflict between the information on economic trends and the annual data prompts the fear that the
short-term economic indicators on which ISTAT bases its own quarterly accounts are becoming more and
more biased and less reliable.

Can the Commission say:

(cid:129) whether the new statistical sources used by ISTAT are known to the Community institutions?

(cid:129) whether the revisions made by ISTAT have any effect on the assessments of the Italian economy,

which under the EC Treaty it is bound to evaluate?

(cid:129) finally, what action it intends to take in this regard?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(5 June 2001)

The Italian national statistical institute (ISTAT) has indeed published the annual figures for Italy(cid:146)s gross
domestic product for 2000, plus the corrections for 1997-1999, which turned out to be fairly substantial.