WRITTEN QUESTION E-1420/01 by Luciano Caveri (ELDR) to the Commission. Bilateral agreements between the European Union and Switzerland.
Date: 2001-05-17
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Union, Switzerland, bilateral agreement

20.12.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 364 E/107

(2001/C 364 E/117)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1420/01

by Luciano Caveri (ELDR) to the Commission

(17 May 2001)

Subject: Bilateral agreements between the European Union and Switzerland

The bilateral agreements between the European Union and Switzerland have important implications for
relations between the two sides and cover various spheres.

When are the individual agreements due to come into force and via what procedures?

What other discussions have been opened between the two sides and what sectors are being envisaged for
greater integration?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(26 July 2001)

The seven agreements signed with Switzerland on 21 June 1999 will enter into force all together once
they have been ratified. One of the agreements, the one on free movement of persons, needs to be ratified
by all Member States. These ratifications have not yet been completed. The Commission hopes that all
ratifications will have been completed by the end of this year or early next year.

During the course of this spring the Commission has held exploratory talks with Switzerland in eight
further sectors: Swiss participation in the European Environment Agency, co-operation on statistics, co-
operation against fraud, trade in processed agricultural products, trade in services, Swiss participation in
Community programmes (media, youth, education, training), taxation on savings, and the issues falling
under the Schengen acquis and Dublin convention. For the first four sectors, the Council has given or is
about to give negotiating directives to the Commission. In these sectors negotiations can start as soon as
the Swiss side has adopted its own negotiating mandates. The exploratory talks in the other sectors are less
advanced.

(2001/C 364 E/118)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1425/01

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission

(17 May 2001)

Subject: Bread and food safety

Recent scares concerning the safety of food products, which have necessitated drastic decisions affecting
certain animal species, must not make us forget that the issue of safety, in particular consumer protection,
also concerns the product commonly sold as bread, but which sometimes is not bread, at least until the
ingredients of bread have been clearly defined. The continually expanding production of (cid:145)industrial(cid:146) bread,
no longer made solely with wheat flour, is leading to the opening of new sales outlets, to the detriment of
the small-scale bakeries. However, the need to ensure food safety, product quality, proper consumer
information and genuine competition should lead the legislators to define more clearly what is meant by
(cid:145)bread(cid:146).

Does the Commission not consider it appropriate and useful to propose a revision of the legislation on
bread and a clear definition of (cid:145)home-baked bread(cid:146) compared with (cid:145)industrial bread(cid:146).

Does it agree that only the product made from wheat flour, water, yeast, olive oil (or butter or lard), with
or without salt, should be defined as bread?