WRITTEN QUESTION E-0059/02 by Esko Seppänen (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. School milk subsidies.
Date: 2002-01-24
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: control of State aid, educational institution, food consumption, milk, milk product, support policy

C 172 E/136

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.7.2002

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(12 March 2002)

The Commission is aware of the ongoing process for the approval of the Palalvo area plan, which covers
an area that includes Sites of Community Importance (SCIs) proposed by Italy under Council Directive
92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora, and a
Special Protection Area (SPA) designated under Council Directive 79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the
conservation of wild birds.

Article 6 of Directive 92/43/EEC provides
for protection requirements with reference to Special
Conservation Areas (SCA). Under Article 4, paragraph 5, of Directive 92/43/EEC these requirements are
applied also to SCIs when, on the basis of the list of proposed Sites of Community Importance (pSCIs),
they are adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 4 paragraph 2. At present, Special
Conservation Areas have not yet been designated and the list of the SCIs has not yet been adopted.
However, with reference to proposed Sites of Community Importance,
in particular when including
priority habitat and species, Member States have certain obligations to act in a way so as to ensure that the
aims of the Directive are not jeopardised. Even in the absence of a Community list, Member States are
advised to at least abstain from all activities that may cause a proposed site to deteriorate.

Concerning the Special Protection Areas (SPA) designated under Directive 79/409/EEC, and according to
Article 7 of Directive 92/43/EEC, Article 6 (2), (3) and (4) of Directive 92/43/EEC already applies.

According to the information provided by the Honourable Member, the Palalvo area plan has not been
approved yet. The Italian authorities are responsible for ensuring compliance with Community law and,
therefore, for ensuring that an appropriate assessment of the impact of the plan on the SPA Valle Vecchia
di Caorle is done before it is approved, and that the conservation objectives of the pSCIs Laguna di Caorle
and Foce del Tagliamento e Valli Arginate di Bibione are not compromised by the area plan.

Should the Commission be informed that there is a breach of Community law, it will, as guardian of the
EC Treaty, take all necessary measures, including infringement procedures under Article 226 of the EC
Treaty, in order to ensure compliance with the relevant Community legislation.

Concerning the application of Council Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997 amending Directive
85/337/EEC on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment,
this Directive concerns only projects, not plans, and the area plan under consideration does not, therefore,
have to be the subject of an Environmental Impact Assessment.

(2002/C 172 E/140)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0059/02

by Esko Seppänen (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(24 January 2002)

Subject: School milk subsidies

On 30 August 2001 I tabled a written question to the Council (E-2478/01) (1) concerning school milk
subsidies. The Council did not reply to the following questions: ‘What is done to ensure that the funds are
used only for school milk and not for other purposes? How are the funds distributed among the Member
States? If some countries do not use the subsidy, might it be appropriate to increase the shares of those
countries which do use it by the amount available to countries which decline to do so?’ In its reply of
10 December 2001, it said that the sole power of decision on this matter rested with the Commission.
What is the Commission’s answer to the above questions?

(1) OJ C 93 E, 18.4.2002, p. 139.

18.7.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 172 E/137

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(18 February 2002)

The budget appropriations for school milk in a given budget year are based on the estimated expenditure
for that scheme taking account of the quantities of dairy products distributed in previous years and,
eventually, of developments in the aid level. It concerns a global amount for the Community as a whole,
without any specification of budgetary envelopes per individual Member State. Actual expenditure on the
scheme depends upon the quantities effectively distributed in each Member State. The budgetary
framework therefore does not allow for the type of compensatory allocations suggested by the Honourable
Member.

Moreover, the aid amount per unit of product distributed to schoolchildren should be known at the
moment of distribution with a view to setting the net selling price. For this reason, the Community
legislation provides for a fixed amount of subsidy for the different products distributed.

(2002/C 172 E/141)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0075/02

by Maurizio Turco (NI) to the Commission

(25 January 2002)

Subject: JICS (Joint Interpreting and Conference Service) working group for the use of the ‘international

language’ A Esperanto

The European Commission, through Vice-President Neil Kinnock, asked the JICS (Joint Interpreting and
Conference Service) to set up a working group to examine projects on the teaching of Esperanto and
consider to what extent it could be used as an intermediary language for interpretation.

In the light of the above:

A On what date was this request submitted to the JICS? Has the working group been activated? If so,
when? Who are its members and what are their qualifications? On the basis of what criteria were they
selected?

A Has the group met yet? If so, when? Are there minutes and/or recordings of its meetings? If so, are
these public? What publications and studies has the group taken into consideration (e.g. the study
published by the Italian Ministry of Education in 1995)?

A What conclusions, if any, has the working group reached? If it has not yet reached any conclusions,

when and how does it intend to do so?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(12 March 2002)

The Honourable Member refers to the consideration to be given by the Joint Interpreting and Conference
Service (SCIC) to the possibility of learning and using ‘Esperanto’ as a relay language for conference
interpretation. SCIC has indeed examined this question internally and with a number of its external
partners in university and academic circles.

However, whilst the use of Esperanto as a relay language for interpretation may appear to be attractive at
first sight, closer examination has revealed that
financial and technical
difficulties.

there are serious practical,

The Commission is strongly committed to multilingualism in order to facilitate communication among
delegates at meetings in the framework of Community activity. Accordingly,
it has always sought to
provide interpretation from and into as many languages as are needed in a particular meeting, subject to
budgetary considerations and the availability of interpreters. The use of various relay languages gives the
Commission the necessary flexibility in this respect without having recourse to languages that will not be
used by any of the delegates.