WRITTEN QUESTION P-1198/01 by Theodorus Bouwman (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. Commissioner de Palacio and flax fraud in Spain.
Date: 2001-04-04
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Commissioner, Spain, aid to agriculture, fraud, fraud against the EU, interinstitutional relations (EU), political morality

13.11.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 318 E/223

Finally, the Commission wishes to inform the Honourable Member that it recently adopted a proposal for
a Parliament and Council Directive on (cid:145)market access to port services(cid:146) (2).

Briefly, the aim of that proposal
is to establish clear rules and to set up an open and transparent
procedural framework for access to the provision of port services, taking at the same time into account the
individual characteristics of each port.

The expected results would be an improvement in the quality of port services and a decrease in prices
because of increased competition.

(1) OJ C 121, 29.4.2000.
(2) COM(2001) 35 final.

(2001/C 318 E/244)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1198/01

by Theodorus Bouwman (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

Subject: Commissioner de Palacio and flax fraud in Spain

(4 April 2001)

According to OLAF(cid:146)s as yet unpublished report on the flax fraud in Spain, Portugal and Belgium, there is
clear evidence of large-scale and widespread fraud in claiming European subsidies for flax cultivation and
processing. This has apparently been going on for years and has been known since the fires at certain flax
warehouses in the summer of 1999 (1).

As the report has not yet been published, I should like, without going into the details, to draw attention
nonetheless to what the former Spanish Minister of Agriculture, Mrs de Palacio, said in reply to questions
by various Members of the European Parliament, including the undersigned, at the hearings in September
1999:

I would like to clarify one thing: growing flax in Spain is not an abuse. Growing flax in Spain is legal
and is carried out by thousands of Spanish farmers in accordance with Community regulations.
Having said this, I was not aware of particular cases of fraud in the flax sector.

Ladies and gentlemen, all of us (cid:129) and myself in particular (cid:129) have a clear obligation to Mr Prodi:
if a situation emerges similar to the one experienced by the outgoing Commission, we will resign. If
I found myself in a similar situation, of course I would resign. I say it clearly: of course I would
resign (2).

Does the President of the Commission agree that the large-scale fraud referred to in OLAF(cid:146)s report had
already come to light before September 1999?

In view of the extent of the fraud and the time when it was known to have occurred, will the President
investigate whether the (cid:145)clear obligation to Mr Prodi(cid:146) which Mrs de Palacio accepted on taking office is still
being honoured?

If not, what will the President of the Commission do?

(1) See Financieel Dagblad, 23 January 2001.
(2) Hearings of the Commissioners-designate, verbatim record

(http://www.europarl.ep.ec/hearings/com/pdf/palacio_en.pdf).

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(25 April 2001)

The Commission would point out that the two quotations taken from Ms de Palacio(cid:146)s hearing before
Parliament on 30 August 1999, to which the Honourable Member refers, have not been given in full.

C 318 E/224

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

13.11.2001

For Ms de Palacio(cid:146)s replies to questions by Mr Atkins and Mr Swoboda during her hearing before
Parliament,
the Honourable Member is referred to the full text on htpp://www.europa.eu.int/comm/
hearings. The complete quotations give a clearer insight into Ms de Palacio(cid:146)s position on these matters.

With regard to the other points made in the Honourable Member(cid:146)s question, the Commission would refer
him to its answers to Written Questions E-243/01 by Mr Meijer (1), E- 370/01 by Mr Tajani (2), E-379/01
by Mr Ferber (3), and P-435/01 by Mr PomØs Ruiz (4). The Commission would also point to Parliament(cid:146)s
resolution of 4 April 2001 on the 1999 discharge approved by 422 votes to 48, in which Parliament and
the Honourable Member himself express their views on the flax case in Spain.

(1) OJ C 187 E, 3.7.2001, p. 205.
(2) OJ C 235 E, 21.8.2001, p. 189.
(3) OJ C 235 E, 21.8.2001, p. 194.
(4) OJ C 235 E, 21.8.2001, p. 205.

(2001/C 318 E/245)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1207/01

by GØrard Caudron (PSE) to the Commission

(4 April 2001)

Subject: Closure of healthy undertakings

The brutal and cynical announcements of closures at Danone and Marks and Spencer demonstrate to those
who might still have had any doubts that the era of the (cid:145)mixed economy(cid:146) and the (cid:145)European social model(cid:146)
is dead.

Restructuring in undertakings as a result of genuine economic problems would be understandable, but it is
not possible to accept restructuring in healthy and prosperous undertakings which have only one single
objective: increasing the profits of those who own capital.

If agricultural crises can prompt our officials to take action, voluntary acts of (cid:145)vandalism(cid:146) which, in the
name of money, destroy entire families should cause our European leaders to act at least as decisively,
particularly given that the absence of any reaction will cause this trend to accelerate in the future.

For this reason, I ask you most earnestly what you intend to do.

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(5 June 2001)

The Commission attaches the greatest importance to the social consequences of corporate restructuring.

As far as existing European legislation on the protection of employees in cases of corporate restructuring is
legislation implementing a number of Directives in the field of labour law and
concerned, national
industrial relations apply and have to be respected, in particular Council Directive 98/59/EC of 20 July
1998 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to collective redundancies; (1) and
Council Directive 77/187/EC of 14 February 1977 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States
relating to the safeguarding of employees(cid:146) rights in the event of transfers of undertakings, businesses or
part of businesses (2), modified by Council Directive 98/50/EC of 29 June 1998 (3).

As these Directives have been transposed into national law, it is up to the national administrative or
judicial authorities to decide if any infringements have taken place in the cases concerning the companies
Danone and Marks and Spencer.