WRITTEN QUESTION E-0472/02 by Salvador Garriga Polledo (PPE-DE) to the Commission. New international financial architecture.
Date: 2002-02-22
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Argentina, Asia, International Monetary Fund, economic recession, international finance, international monetary system, the EU's international role

14.11.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 277 E/51

In addition to the IAEA safety review Serco Assurance has performed an independent assessment of
3.
the lifetime of the HFR vessel with respect to the presence of a welding defect indication in the vessel of
the HFR. On Tuesday 19th March 2002 the report from Serco was made available. In the report the
following statement is made: ‘Serco is satisfied on technical grounds that the HFR may be restarted for a
period of operation until the summer of 2003’ (when the next in-service inspection is planned). However,
several recommendations were made including the development of a validated in-service inspection
programme, further analysis of the stress conditions of the defect indications, and material properties
should be further verified using archive material. A detailed action plan will be produced to demonstrate
how the above recommendations will be implemented.

4.
The Commission has already decided, jointly with the Dutch Authorities, to convert the HFR from
highly enriched fuel to low enriched after an in-depth study that demonstrated that such a conversion will
only affect to a minor extent the irradiation capacity of the reactor. The production of radioisotopes will
not bear any negative consequences from the conversion.

The activities of the Institute for Energy of the Joint Research Centre located in Petten can be

5.
subdivided into three major parts:

6 nuclear safety research activities, partially independent

funded through the 5th
Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (RTD), covering roughly 40 % of
the activities;

from the HFR,

6 non-nuclear research activities funded through the 5th Framework Programme for RTD, covering

roughly 30 % of the activities;

6 the management of the High Flux Reactor, funded though a supplementary programme in which

participate Germany, France and Netherlands, covering roughly 30 % of the activities

The main objective of the nuclear research activities is to study the safe operation and nuclear waste
reduction of existing nuclear power plants (including those of the Eastern European countries that will join
the Union in the coming years). In this respect the Institute for Energy provides also technical and
scientific support to the TACIS and PHARE programmes.

The main objective of the non-nuclear research activities is to assess and validate new and cleaner energy
technologies in the areas of energy from waste and biomass, fuel cell performance and hydrogen as energy
carrier and storage and distribution of alternative fuels.

Finally, it should be stressed that the operation of the High Flux Reactor is under the full control of the
Dutch Safety Authorities.

The Dutch Safety Authorities, in the light of the outcome of the external audit and review conducted
6.
by IAEA and Serco Assurance, concluded that the reactor could continue to be operated safely. Therefore,
the decision was taken, in agreement with KFD to restart the reactor on 22 March 2002.

(2002/C 277 E/053)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0472/02

by Salvador Garriga Polledo (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: New international financial architecture

(22 February 2002)

The current crisis in Argentina, with the economy in decline and the uncertainty as to what can be done,
together with the Asian crisis of 1997 and 1998, has highlighted the need to find a set of institutional
rules and practices to govern the new international financial system.

It was this which prompted the United States Treasury Department in October 2001 to submit to
Congress proposals for reforming the IMF, whose actions during both the Asian and Argentinian crises
have revealed the need for a new international financial architecture.

C 277 E/52

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

14.11.2002

What is the Commission’s position on the need to promote a new international financial architecture and
what contribution has it made on behalf of the EU as a whole to improve the mechanisms that could help
the IMF to respond more positively than it did during the abovementioned Asian and Argentinian crises?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(5 April 2002)

The Commission, in its recent report ‘Responses to the Challenges of Globalisation 6 A study on the
International Financial and Monetary System and on Financing for Development’, analyses a number of
reform proposals of the international financial architecture.

The report notes that the system has functioned well over the past half century. It has contributed to the
global economic growth and has allowed countries embracing sound policies to raise the living standards
of their population. The system has also been able to cope with periods of disequilibria in balance-of-
payments and has ensured monetary stability in times of crises, as recently demonstrated in the case of the
11 September 2001 attacks.

The report acknowledges, nevertheless, that the changing environment poses new challenges to policy
makers. The international financial crises in the nineties have initiated a debate on how the international
community, in particular the International Monetary Fund (IMF), can reduce the occurrence of such crises
and the likelihood that problems originating in one country can spread to others and even destabilise the
system as a whole. The Commission’ report looks into these problems and reviews the main solutions
under discussion, ranging from very modest ones, such as increasing the flow of information to market
participants, to very ambitious ones such as the creation of a single world currency. It also focuses on the
involvement of the private sector in the prevention and resolution of financial crises.

The Council has welcomed the Commission report and will use it in its further deliberations.

(2002/C 277 E/054)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0479/02

by Ari Vatanen (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(13 February 2002)

Subject: The Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) and the Interim Agreement between the EU

and the Russian Federation 6 principle of non-discrimination

The above-mentioned Interim Agreement was accepted on 17 July 1995 and came into force on
1 February 1996.

Like the Amsterdam Treaty (Article 90), the agreements between the EU and the Russian Federation also
include the principle of mutual non-discrimination.

Are these articles in the latter agreements also directly binding on EU Member States Courts and other
authorities?

An example would be where an EU Member State’s court finds that the national import tax legislation
violates in some way the principle of non-discrimination as regards the importation of certain goods.

Under these circumstances is it possible for the court to accept an appeal by company A importing such
goods from other EU Member States by reference to Article 90 of the Amsterdam Treaty, but not to accept
the appeal of company B, which imports similar goods from Russia based on the argument that the non-
discrimination rules of the PCA and the Interim Agreements are not binding on the tax authorities like the
Amsterdam Treaty non-discrimination rules?