WRITTEN QUESTION E-0218/03 by Stavros Xarchakos (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Community funding for local authorities in Greece.
Date: 2003-02-03
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Community support framework, EU aid, EU financing, EU regional policy, Greece, Structural Funds, local government, regional and local authorities

10.7.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 161 E/197

theoretically entitled to the aid and fulfilled all the necessary conditions but did not submit any application.
However, it is clear that the producers did not know that by forgoing aid in a particular year they would
be precluded from benefiting in the future, and indeed for ever, from the single payment provided for by
the new system which uncouples aid from production.

What does the Commission intend to do to remedy this blatant injustice and to introduce special rules for
these farms which nonetheless had an entitlement to aid?

Is there any possibility of resubmitting an application in 2003 in 2004 if the Regulation enters into force
on 1 January 2005?

Is it possible to take as a basis the acquired right which can be shown to have existed in previous years
and nonetheless establish a lump-sum amount based on factors that can be derived from the current farm
data for hectares, head of cattle and calculable production?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(24 February 2003)

The Commission does not share the opinion of the Honorable Member. The cases referred to in the
question are not a ‘blatant injustice’, nor do they call for ‘introducing special rules for those farms which
nonetheless had an entitlement to aid’.

Farmers are free to apply or not for aids under the Common Agricultural Policy. Those who decide not to
apply because of
the aid, bureaucratic complication,
impossibility of using the bovine register’ subsequently cannot invoke any legitimate expectations to be
entitled to a new aid whose payment is based on the fact that the farmer was granted a certain aid during
a reference period.

information, unattractive nature of

‘lack of

The Commission would like to underline that in its proposal (1), it has taken account of really exceptional
cases, such as force majeure and exceptional circumstances as well as newcomers, for which Member
States can allocate entitlements to aid from a national reserve.

(1) COM(2003) 23 final.

(2003/C 161 E/206)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0218/03

by Stavros Xarchakos (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Community funding for local authorities in Greece

(3 February 2003)

It has been alleged in the Greek press that on 16 January 2003 the procedure was set in motion for
sequestering Mytilene town hall with a view to recovering debts contracted by the municipal authority
whose term of office expired on 31 December 2002. Unless the municipality meets its obligations, this
procedure will be completed on 3 March 2003 with the sale by auction of the town hall. This situation
has arisen owing to the failure of the previous municipal authority to expunge debts arising from the
expropriation of land in 1997 on which a final court ruling was handed down in 2000.

The same publications state that the Lesbos shipping company, NEL LINES, which the previous mayor of
Mytilene had headed from 1997 until the end of his term of office (December 2002), is having very
considerable problems in paying off debts it contracted through the purchase of rapid vessels.

Which Community initiatives or Community Support Frameworks (CSFs) have provided aid for the
municipality of Mytilene and its municipal enterprises? Exactly how much aid has been provided in which
years? Have NEL LINES received funding from Community initiatives or CSFs? If so, how much and when?
How does the Commission view the prospect of Mytilene town hall being sequestered? Is there any
precedent for such a move in any other EU Member State?

C 161 E/198

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

10.7.2003

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(28 February 2003)

Based on the information available to the Commission, the Mytilene town hall building to which the
from Community funding. Nor did the
Honourable Member refers was not acquired with support
company NEL Lines receive assistance from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under the
1989-1993 and 1994-1999 Community support frameworks.

But a number of projects proposed to the Greek authorities by the Lesbos municipality of Mytilene did
including via the 1989-1993 and 1994-1999 Community support
receive Community assistance,
frameworks. That assistance mainly came under
the operational
programmes for the North Aegean region.

the EAPTA sub-programme of

The installation in Mytilene of a 300 kilowatt (kW) electricity-producing wind turbine was 70 % part-
funded in 1994 by the special programme for the Greek islands of the Aegean Sea. The total installation
cost was ECU 390 070.

The Commission would also inform the Honourable Member that the construction of the Mytilene
municipal waste-water and sewage treatment plant, opened in 2002, was the subject of a specific
Commission decision as a Cohesion Fund project. The Community assistance granted for this amounted to
EUR 35 179 980, out of a total cost of EUR 42 286 533.

Lastly, the Commission would invite the Honourable Member to ask the national and regional authorities
responsible to provide a full list of the funding received by the municipality of Mytilene.

(2003/C 161 E/207)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0222/03

by Guido Podestà (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(3 February 2003)

Subject: Child labour

According to the latest report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), there are 211 million
children aged between 5 and 14 working in the world. Of these, 186 million are doing types of work that
are prohibited by various international instruments. There is equal involvement of boys and girls in these
activities up to the age of 14, at which point the proportion of boys increases.

The agriculture sector exploits the largest numbers of children, followed by the informal urban economy,
industry, tourism and domestic services. 8,4 million boys and girls of all ages fall
into the bracket
comprising the most unpleasant forms of child labour. Around 2 million of them are exploited by the
prostitution and pornography industries, which are thriving in Moldavia, Romania and the Ukraine in
particular thanks to organised trafficking to western Europe.

The area of the world most affected by this phenomenon is the Asia-Pacific area, which has 127 million
child workers, or in other words 60 % of the estimated world total. Sub-Saharan Africa is next with 23 %,
but the problem is more acute in Africa than in Asia as 29 % of the children working there are under 15.
However, child labour is not confined to poor or developing countries, but concerns all the countries of
the world to varying degrees. 3 % of children aged between 10 and 14 work in developed countries.

The problem of child labour remains an issue at world level. In fact, the number of children doing high-
risk work is increasing markedly since around two thirds of them (i.e. 111 million children) are under the
age of 15.

Given that the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union does not explicitly prohibit child
labour, how does the Commission intend to combat this phenomenon?

What measures will it take to eradicate this phenomenon in Eastern European countries that are soon to
join the European Union?