WRITTEN QUESTION E-1191/02 by Jacques Poos (PSE) to the Council. Destruction of EU-funded Palestinian infrastructures.
Date: 2002-04-26
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU financing, EU relations, Israel, Palestine, international affairs, military intervention, war damage

12.12.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 309 E/95

(2002/C 309 E/109)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1191/02

by Jacques Poos (PSE) to the Council

(26 April 2002)

Subject: Destruction of EU-funded Palestinian infrastructures

Following the large-scale attacks and numerous instances of violence perpetrated by the Israeli army during
their recent campaign to reoccupy autonomous Palestinian territories, can the Council reassess the damage
caused to infrastructures funded by the EU and its Member States?

Given that elementary legal principles demand that damages be made good, how does the Council intend
to claim compensation from Mr Sharon’s government?

Will the Council undertake to assist the Palestinian Authority in its efforts to secure just compensation
through all available legal means?

Reply

(30 September 2002)

The damage caused to infrastructures financed in whole or in part by the EU is being reassessed and may
be followed, if a decision is taken in this respect, by reparation claims in the appropriate fora. The Council
has not considered whether to support the Palestinian Authority in its own efforts to secure compensation.

(2002/C 309 E/110)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1194/02

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(26 April 2002)

Subject: Consequences of introduction of the euro: failure to exchange national coins and notes which are

no longer valid

1.
Is the Commission aware that, in a number of Member States belonging to the euro zone, it has been
reported that a substantial proportion of national coins and notes, valid only until 28 February 2002, have
not been exchanged against the euro, which has been legal tender since 1 January 2002?

2.
Does the Commission agree that this clearly is not accounted for merely by coins or notes that have
been mislaid or kept for collection purposes, as the total amount of former national currencies not
exchanged is far higher than could reasonably have been anticipated?

3.
How does the behaviour of citizens in relation to the exchange of currencies differ between the
twelve Member States concerned? Could the Commission indicate for each Member State what amount and
percentage of coins in circulation up to 31 December 2001 have not been exchanged as of a reference
date (cid:1) the same date for all the countries concerned (cid:1) between 1 March 2002 and 1 May 2002? Could it
also give the corresponding amounts and percentages for bank notes?

4.
Does people’s failure to exchange currency point to a lack of confidence in a euro which, within the
space of three years, has lost a quarter of its value against the dollar, and/or reflect the hope of a possible
return to the old currencies, which it is believed would have given them greater purchasing power against
the dollar had the currencies been retained?

5. What steps are being taken to determine the reasons for the failure to exchange currency? Could the
Commission present a report to Parliament within a year on those causes?

6. What possibilities does the Commission envisage for compensating in some way the citizens of the
countries concerned for the loss of purchasing power arising as a result of the disappearance of part of the
money supply?