WRITTEN QUESTION E-2742/02 by Emmanouil Bakopoulos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Absence of Greek from Inforegio website.
Date: 2002-09-30
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU publication, Greece, Internet site, dissemination of EU information, official language, regional policy

8.5.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 110 E/99

(2003/C 110 E/101)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2742/02

by Emmanouil Bakopoulos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

Subject: Absence of Greek from Inforegio website

(30 September 2002)

The Inforegio website offers visitors a very interesting opportunity to read about the achievements of
regional policy in each Member State. The page on Greece, however, (http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/
regional_policy/projects/stories/search.cfm) offers no Greek language option, which means that Greek
readers have to resort to another language to obtain information about their own country.

Can the Commission state the reasons for such a serious omission? Will the Commission in future also
provide such information in Greek?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(4 November 2002)

The Inforegio website devoted to the Union’s regional policy was run by a private firm until last February
but has now been transferred to the Europa server of the Commission, which is endeavouring subject to
resource availability and technical constraints to increase the number of documents put on line in all the
Union’s official
languages. The good practice examples presented on the Inforegio site to which the
Honourable Member refers will be published in Greek within the next few months and a further set of
examples will be published directly in Greek in spring 2003. The Commission will mark Greece’s six-
month presidency of the Council by publishing these examples in a brochure on Structural Fund action in
Greece.

(2003/C 110 E/102)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2743/02

by Ian Hudghton (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(30 September 2002)

Subject: Fishing industry earnings

Can the Commission provide assurances that it has fully assessed the socio-economic impact of its
proposed reform of the common fisheries policy and its proposal in relation to the regulation of deep-sea
fisheries? Is the Commission fully aware of the economic hardship faced by fishermen and the fishing
industry in general and that the introduction by the Commission of measures which are not based on
verifiable up-to-date scientific information, as has recently been witnessed in the regulation of deep-sea
fisheries and the proposals for open access in the North Sea, will lead only to a total loss of confidence in
the EU fisheries management regime by the very people responsible for its implementation?

Is the Commission aware that Scottish fishermen’s earnings have plunged in three years to less than one
third of the 1998 estimate for the worst hit industry sector? Over that period, vessel earnings fell 25 %,
with a slight increase in prices being overwhelmed by a major loss of landings. The average fall in net
profits was estimated at 75 %, with net profits falling as a percentage of income from 18 to 10 %.

The loss of earnings has led to crewing problems for two thirds of vessels which experienced difficulties
recruiting experienced hands. The lack of confidence in the future of fishing has also meant an ageing
workforce, with only 37 per cent of fishermen being below 30, with a resulting impact on safety and
threatening the very future of fisheries-dependent communities.

Can the Commission ensure that the socio-economic consequences of its policies are fully assessed prior to
their implementation?