WRITTEN QUESTION E-1720/02 by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission. European Public Prosecutor.
Date: 2002-06-13
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU Member State, EU publication, fraud against the EU, legal action, legal profession, opinion, project of common interest, public prosecutor's department

14.8.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 192 E/11

‘Water Strategy (cid:1) Regional Approach for South Eastern Europe’ prepared by the EBRD. A basic regional
approach for the development of environment infrastructure is also being developed with CARDS support
through the Regional Environmental Reconstruction Programme.

‘Air Traffic Regional Infrastructure Study for South East’ prepared by the EIB

Outcome: the regional infrastructure programme in South-East Europe

The co-ordinated efforts by the Community and IFIs, in the wake of the Regional Funding Conference of
March 2002 and since then within the ISG, are listed under the Regional infrastructure programme for
South-East Europe, which implementation is regularly monitored by the EC/WB Joint office.

The current list of ongoing regional projects (cid:1) all international donors cofounded (cid:1) amounts to 41
projects with a total cost of EUR 3,32 billion. Transport (particularly road infrastructure) represents 66 %
of the overall cost, equivalent to some EUR 2,2 billion, and spread between 33 different projects. The
energy sector comes second, with a cost of EUR 0,82 billion (25 %) for five electricity projects, and the
water and environment sector comes last with three projects and a total cost of EUR 0,29 billion (9 %). An
updated list was presented on 21 June 2002 at SP WT II meeting in Sofia.

(2003/C 192 E/010)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1664/02

by Daniel Hannan (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Participants in the European Conventions

(4 June 2002)

Could the Commission please detail which of the organisations and networks of organisations taking part
in the Forum of the European Convention are funded or part-funded, directly or indirectly, by the
Commission or other European Union institution?

Supplementary answer
given by Mrs Schreyer on behalf of the Commission

(22 November 2002)

Further to the preliminary answer sent to the Honourable Member, the Commission is sending direct to
him and to Parliament’s Secretariat a detailed analysis of the Union’s accounts for each of the 1998, 1999,
2000, 2001 and 2002 financial years, which provides the requested information for each of
the
organisations concerned. This analysis was conducted using the Sincom2 accounting system.

The Commission has registered 1 575 payments,
throughout the Union.

totalling EUR 154,5 million,

to 139 organisations

(2003/C 192 E/011)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1720/02

by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(13 June 2002)

Subject: European Public Prosecutor

What are the latest developments in the creation of the office of the European Public Prosecutor?

Have any Member States sent an opinion on the Green Paper to the Commission?

C 192 E/12

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

14.8.2003

Will the Commission provide the European Parliament with Member States’ comments as soon as they
have been received?

Does the Commission feel that the creation of the European Public Prosecutor is inevitable and when does
the Commission foresee its creation and implementation?

Answer given by Mrs Schreyer on behalf of the Commission

(26 July 2002)

The Commission on 11 December 2001 adopted the Green Paper on the European Public Prosecutor, and
over 11 000 copies of the Green Paper have been distributed. It has promoted national and international
debates (16 events have taken place; about six others are planned), and a public hearing organised by the
Commission is scheduled for 16/17 September 2002 in Brussels.

The end of the consultation period was 1 June 2002. However, additional answers are expected after the
deadline. Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden have sent an official opinion to the Commission.
Other Member States are also preparing an opinion on this matter. Comments can be reviewed on the
Europa Web-site, under OLAF and the Green Paper: http://europa.eu.int/comm/anti_fraud/green_paper/
contributions/date.html.

The Commission has given substantive reasons why the European Public Prosecutor is needed both in its
proposal to the Intergovernmental conference at Nice and in its Green Paper. Under the EC Treaty, the
Commission is responsible, before the Budgetary Authority, for implementing the budget (Articles 274 and
276 of the EC Treaty). Protection of the Community’s financial interests must be effective, dissuasive and
equivalent in all Member States (Article 280 of the EC Treaty). The Community must guarantee to Member
States and to Europe’s taxpayers that offences of fraud and corruption are effectively prosecuted in the
courts. In order to create the European Public Prosecutor, the EC Treaty must be amended and secondary
law must be adopted. The Commission will publish a Communication in End 2002/early 2003 on the
basis of the results of the debate on the Green Paper.

(2003/C 192 E/012)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1726/02

by Carles-Alfred Gasòliba i Böhm (ELDR) to the Commission

Subject: VAT tax fraud in the metal-recovery industry

(7 June 2002)

The introduction of VAT in Spain has,
in the metal-recovery industry, enabled specific businesses to
develop a wide range of VAT fraud techniques. Illegal metal-recovery businesses, by acquiring the materials
in question, use base companies to avoid the relevant VAT charges. When selling to steelworks and
foundries, their bills include a 16 % VAT charge, but this VAT is not then paid into the Treasury.

This constitutes not only unfair competition against businesses which abide by current legislation. Fraud of
this kind is infecting trade with other Community countries, such as France, Portugal or Germany, which
means that the situation is creating severe distortions in metal-recovery industrial trade between Member
States.

When these practices came to its attention, the Commission proposed that the Council adopt a Decision (1)
authorising Spain to apply a measure derogating from the Sixth Directive 77/388/EEC (2), so as to
eliminate the tax fraud. However, the industry itself believes that this authorisation, which expires on
31 December 2003, has failed to curtail tax fraud at all, which has actually increased in recent years. For
that reason, various European business groups working in the metal-recovery industry have repeatedly
alerted the Commission to the situation, without obtaining any satisfactory answer so far.