WRITTEN QUESTION E-0177/02 by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Value of the Euro in terms of other world currencies.
Date: 2002-02-05
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: euro, exchange parity

C 301 E/28

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

5.12.2002

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(25 March 2002)

The Commission has received information on this subject also from other sources. Microsoft’s licensing
policy towards schools of its Office suite referred to by the Honourable Member has already been brought
to the attention of the Commission with regard to the German and Dutch markets.

On the basis of the 1993 ‘Notice on cooperation between national courts and the Commission in applying
Articles 85 and 86 of the EC Treaty’ [now Articles 81 and 82], both the German and Dutch competition
authorities are now investigating this issue on the basis of their national competition rules.

The ongoing Commission investigation on Microsoft under Article 82 of the EC Treaty which led to the
issue of Statements of objections against Microsoft Corporation on 3 August 2000 and 29 August 2001
respectively, focuses on the allegation that Microsoft has abused its dominant position in the market for
personal computer operating system software by leveraging this power into the market for entry-level
server
software key
interoperability information that they need to enable their products to talk with Microsoft’s dominant
personal computer (PC) and entry-level server products.

software. Microsoft may have withheld from vendors of alternative server

In its second Statement of objections, the Commission also alleges that Microsoft is illegally tying its Media
Player product with the dominant Windows operating system.

For the time being, and in the absence of any formal complaint, there is however no open case on
Microsoft’s Office (XP) products as referred to by the Honourable Member, although the Commission is
carefully monitoring all developments with respect to these products.

(2002/C 301 E/027)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0177/02

by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

Subject: Value of the Euro in terms of other world currencies

(5 February 2002)

Can the Commission provide a list of those of the world’s currencies which had risen in value against the
Euro between the latter’s introduction on 1 January 1999 and the end of 2001?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(5 April 2002)

The European Central Bank (ECB) publishes reference values for 28 currencies. Out of these currencies,
22 have appreciated against the euro between 4 January 1999 and 28 December 2001:

Currency

Lithuanian lita

US $

Hong Kong dollar

Canadian $

Korean won

Singapore dollar

(currency unit/EUR, change in %)

Exchange rate

− 25,32 %

− 25,24 %

− 24,75 %

− 21,81 %

− 16,95 %

− 16,61 %

5.12.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 301 E/29

Currency

Latvian lat

UK £

Polish zloty

Japanese yen

Norwegian krone

Maltese lira

Australian $

Czech koruna

Swiss franc

New Zealand $

Hungarian forint

Swedish krona

Cyprus £

Slovak koruna

Bulgarian lev

Danish krone

Source: ECB, Eurostat

Exchange rate

− 16,57 %

− 14,43 %

− 14,15 %

− 13,76 %

− 10,20 %

− 9,89 %

− 9,53 %

− 8,96 %

− 8,28 %

− 4,56 %

− 2,51 %

− 1,78 %

− 1,25 %

− 0,49 %

− 0,49 %

− 0,18 %

(2002/C 301 E/028)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0199/02

by Bernd Lange (PSE) to the Commission

(5 February 2002)

Subject: Management of business accounts in Austria

A question has been put to me concerning the general terms and conditions applied by Austrian banks. At
the Wiener Volksbank, German business customers must have separate resident and non-resident accounts.
However, it is not possible to carry out direct transactions from resident accounts, instead credit must be
entered every month into another account before it can be used for payment or other transactions. For the
transfer of credit, the account holder incurs substantial charges as well as high transfer fees.

Is such discrimination against residents and non-residents lawful and is the foreign exchange law in Austria
and the treatment of clients, particularly in view of the common currency and the ensuing elimination of
the exchange-rate mechanisms, in line with European law?

If not, what action does the Commission plan to take?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(4 March 2002)

The free movement of capital as provided for in Article 56 of the EC Treaty is one of the cornerstones of
the Single Market. However, Article 58 of the EC Treaty explicitly sets out the Member States’ right to
maintain or introduce certain measures for reasons of taxation (different treatment of residents and non-
residents) as well as for statistical and administrative reasons. However, such measures may not be
discriminatory.