WRITTEN QUESTION E-1996/01 by María Rodríguez Ramos (PSE) and Carlos Westendorp y Cabeza (PSE) to the Commission. Expiry of the ECSC Treaty and coal aid.
Date: 2001-07-06
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: ECSC Treaty, coal, electrical energy, environmental protection, operational expenditure (EU), production aid, security of supply, thermal pollution

18.4.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 93 E/43

Joint answer
to Written Questions E-1993/01 and E-1994/01
given by Mrs de Palacio and Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(29 October 2001)

The Commission would first of all assure the Honourable Member that it is extremely vigilant regarding
commercial practices which aim to compartmentalise the internal market at the expense of consumers.

The issue the Honourable Member has raised may involve two types of case:

(a)

(b)

to attract passengers to their medium and long-haul flights, some airlines charge lower fares where the
flight involves a connection. For instance, a flight from Amsterdam to New York might cost more
than a flight from Frankfurt & via Amsterdam & to New York;

some airlines reserve their lowest fares for specific Member States. For instance, the lowest fare for a
flight between City A and City B might only be available in the Member State of departure or the
Member State of arrival (or, in the case of a domestic flight, only within the Member State itself). It
would be impossible to obtain the same ticket at the same low fare in another Member State.

The first of these two practices involves distinct products. In example (a) one passenger wants to travel
from Amsterdam to New York and the other from Frankfurt to New York. An airline is not acting in
breach of the competition rules if it decides, quite independently, to charge different fares for different
products.

In example (b), on the other hand, different fares are charged for the same service. Practices such as this
may in certain circumstances constitute a breach of the Community competition rules, and in particular
Articles 81 and 82 (ex Articles 85 and 86) of the EC Treaty. This would be the case if the airline in
question had a dominant position in the market concerned. It would also be the case if the commercial
practice in question derived directly or indirectly from a horizontal agreement between airlines or from a
vertical agreement through which an airline prevented its distributors from selling a particular category of
tickets outside the Member State in which they were located.

The Commission is extremely interested in examining any information it might receive on this subject.

The Commission also plans to look into these issues as part of the survey to be carried out on the occasion
of the tenth anniversary of the implementation of the ‘third package’ of air transport liberalisation
measures.

(2002/C 93 E/057)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1996/01

by María Rodríguez Ramos (PSE) and Carlos Westendorp y Cabeza (PSE) to the Commission

Subject: Expiry of the ECSC Treaty and coal aid

(6 July 2001)

The Commission Communication on an EU strategy for sustainable development argues that the EU’s
actions must be consistent with the objectives of sustainable development and one of the measures it
proposes (in view of the damage which coal is alleged to do to the environment) the gradual withdrawal of
production subsidies by 2010.

Does it not occur to the Commission that, if there is an inconsistency in authorising aid for an allegedly
‘dirty’ energy source such as coal produced within the European Union, the production of electricity from
imported coal would have to be banned?

Is the Commission really intending to ban all coal-based electricity production throughout the European
Union?

C 93 E/44

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.4.2002

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(21 September 2001)

On 15 May 2001 the Commission adopted a communication on a European strategy for sustainable
development (1). The strategy proposed by the Commission provides in particular for the gradual removal
by 2010 of subsidies for the production and consumption of fossil fuels. Aware, however, of the possible
impact of certain decisions on the security of long-term energy supply in the Union, the Commission said
there was a need to look into whether it was necessary to create a coal reserve or whether a minimum
production of coal could be maintained. The communication also stated that the Commission would be
submitting a proposal to the Council in the course of 2001 with a view to the adoption of a system of
State aids to the coal industry before the ECSC Treaty expires in July 2002.

Thus, despite the fact that it favours the development of more environmentally friendly energy sources, the
sustainable development strategy proposed by the Commission is consistent with the approach developed
in the Green Paper on a European strategy for the security of energy supply adopted by the Commission
on 29 November 2000 (2), since it does not rule out the possibility of measures for maintaining a
it acknowledges the need to find a compromise between
minimum of coal production.
environmental protection on the one hand and improving the security of energy supply on the other.

In fact

Based on these principles, the Commission adopted by its Decision of 25 July 2001 a proposal for a
Council Regulation on State aid to the coal industry (3) after the expiry of the ECSC Treaty. The system
proposed amounts to the creation by the Member States of an indigenous base of primary energy sources,
in order to improve the Union’s security of energy supply.

The Commission does not intend to prohibit the production of electricity from coal in the Union. On the
contrary, the Green Paper ‘Towards a European strategy for the security of energy supply’ says that
electricity production will in future have to be covered by a range of energy products available on the
market: natural gas, coal, oil, nuclear and renewables.

The Commission has put in place a number of legislative measures in connection with the reduction of
pollutant emissions due to electricity production from fossil fuels, in particular Council Directive 88/609/
EEC of 24 November 1988 on the limitation of emissions of certain pollutants into the air from large
combustion plants (4) and Council Directive 96/61/EC of 24 September 1996 concerning integrated
pollution prevention and control (5).

In addition, with programmes like Energy, Carnot and the ECSC Research Programme the Commission is
supporting the development, demonstration and dissemination of clean technologies for producing energy
from fossil fuels.

(1) COM(2001) 264 final.
(2) COM(2000) 769 final.
(3) COM(2001) 423 final.
(4) OJ L 336, 7.12.1988.
(5) OJ L 257, 10.10.1996.

(2002/C 93 E/058)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2001/01

by Concepció Ferrer (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(6 July 2001)

Subject: Distribution of pharmaceutical products in the Third World

Reports have recently appeared in the media to the effect that almost 50 % of pharmaceutical products
sent to the Third World are counterfeit or are in a very poor condition.