WRITTEN QUESTION E-1824/02 by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Need to go on purchasing new and more expensive Microsoft products because of restrictions on the use of old software.
Date: 2002-06-27
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: consumer price, consumer protection, dominant position, information technology industry, operating system, restriction on competition, systems interconnection

C 137 E/28

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

12.6.2003

(2003/C 137 E/030)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1811/02

by Nicholas Clegg (ELDR) to the Commission

(24 June 2002)

Subject: Illegal logging

In the light of recent attention given to the problem of illegal logging in the run up to the World Summit
on Sustainable Development and the regional forest law enforcement initiatives in Asia and Africa and
given that the European Commission is preparing an Action Plan to Combat Illegal Logging and related
Illegal Trade, to be presented to the European Parliament and Council by the end of the year, could the
Commission confirm where the funding to implement activities with partner countries will come from?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(17 July 2002)

Funding for actions to assist wood-producing countries to combat illegal logging and its associated trade
can potentally come from two main sources:

(cid:1) the Community development budget assigned to that country, for financial and technical or economic
co-operation. Priority areas for use of these funds are set out in Country Strategy Papers and National
Indicative Programmes, in agreement with the partner country;

(cid:1) the budget line for tropical forest and the environment. Funds from this budget line are disbursed
for proposals. Some funds are also available to finance the activities of

through an open call
international organisations outside the call for proposals.

(2003/C 137 E/031)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1824/02

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(27 June 2002)

Subject: Need to go on purchasing new and more expensive Microsoft products because of restrictions on

the use of old software

1.
Is the Commission aware that Microsoft’s old PC operating systems Windows 95, 98 and the
Millennium Edition used for professional purposes, as well as the more recent Windows NT3, NT4 and
2000 Professional were replaced the end of 2001 by Windows XP Home Edition, and the only slightly
different but one and a half times more expensive professional version Windows XP Professional, that the
cheaper operating systems have disappeared from price lists for firms with several licences and that with
Windows XP Home Edition it
is no longer possible to be included in business domains, so that
organisations that had already opted for domain security are now unexpectedly being forced to convert to
a product line that is one and a half to two times as expensive;
in addition, because of technical
incompatibility between older and newer versions and the withdrawal of technical support for older
versions, users are being put under continuous pressure to purchase the latest versions?

2.
Can the Commission confirm the claim by NGN, the Dutch user group network, that the prices of
Microsoft software are continuing to rise excessively even without the changes in the licence programme
and are disproportionate to price trends for hardware, while these major price rises bear no relation to
higher development or distribution costs for
the number and type of
improvements between two successive versions are becoming smaller and smaller?

the software given that

12.6.2003

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 137 E/29

3. What can the Commission do to combat unnecessary price increases, bundled sales and sales
pressure, particularly in the light of the letter of 22 May 2002 from the Dutch Competition Authority to
NGN and the answer given by the Netherlands Government to parliamentary questions by members of the
national assembly on 2 November 2001 (TK No 198), in which it suggested that the matter be referred to
the Commission because of its transfrontier nature?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(6 August 2002)

1.
The Commission is aware that Microsoft launched its Windows XP operating system in October
2001. The Commission is also aware that Microsoft is keen to ensure that users of older versions of the
Windows operating system switch towards Windows XP.

The Commission has not yet formally investigated this issue. The Commission is therefore not in a

2.
position to confirm or deny such claims.

As the Honourable Member is aware,

the Commission has expressed concerns in its ongoing
3.
investigation that Microsoft has, inter alia, restricted interoperability and engaged in tying in ways which
are contrary to the Community’s competition rules.
is the
Commission’s aim to ensure that Microsoft does not use its market power in such a way that it can
unlawfully engage in the types of practices outlined by the Honourable Member.

In the context of

its investigation,

it

(2003/C 137 E/032)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1836/02

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

Subject: A Cohesion Fund for Latin America

(27 June 2002)

It is generally agreed by political observers that the economic crisis in Latin America is undermining
democracy, despite the democratic consolidation over the last fifteen years in such countries as Paraguay,
Ecuador and Peru.

Following the excellent results obtained by certain initiatives, such as the Free Trade Area of the Americas
(FTAA), it is now necessary to consider further initiatives. These could include the creation of a Cohesion
Fund for Latin America, whose purpose would be to further the development of the least-favoured regions,
in the hope of repeating the success of its EU counterpart.

Does the Commission consider that it should examine the possibility of creating such a Cohesion Fund, as
a regional development instrument for Latin America, with the objective of supporting the least-favoured
Latin American regions in their efforts to achieve a level of development which will contribute to
consolidating democracy in Latin America?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(16 July 2002)

The economic development of the less favoured countries and regions of Latin America is one of the
priorities of the cooperation pursued by the Community in Latin America. 50 % of the EUR 3,4 billion
allocated to cooperation with Latin America between 1993 and 2000 were devoted to social and human
development and poverty reduction.

The creation of a cohesion fund for regional development in Latin America as well as the creation of a
bi-regional solidarity fund proposed by the Parliament in its resolution on a global partnership and a
common strategy for relations between the Union and Latin America, are interesting initiatives. Especially
since poverty and social
inequalities are two of the most striking problems in some Latin American
countries.