WRITTEN QUESTION E-1457/03 by Hiltrud Breyer (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. Euratom/Distortions in the electricity market.
Date: 2003-04-29
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU financing, Euratom loan, award of contract, electrical industry, nuclear industry, restriction on competition, single market

C 84 E/724

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.4.2004

(2004/C 84 E/0813)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1457/03

by Hiltrud Breyer (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

Subject: Euratom/Distortions in the electricity market

(29 April 2003)

1.
The Common Position adopted by the Council on the revised Electricity Market Directive states that
the lack of a level playing field in generation is one of the shortcomings of the EU’s electricity market. The
Euratom Loan Facility can only be used for nuclear projects. Why is this not perceived as a market
distortion?

2.

Are there any circumstances in which loans can be granted for non-nuclear projects?

3.
Do the Euratom loans, or the grants awarded by either PHARE or TACIS, have to comply with the
public procurement principles, as described in Directives 1992/50/EWG (1), 1993/36/EWG (2) and 1993/
37/EWG (3)?

(1) OJ L 209, 24.7.1992, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 199, 9.8.1993, p. 1.
(3) OJ L 199, 9.8.1993, p. 54.

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(20 June 2003)

1.
The fact that this is a dedicated facility does not mean that it distorts the market, since other facilities
are available for ‘competitors’. For Member States this is clearly the case, through European Investment
Bank (EIB) activities and those of commercial banks. For third countries there are also the EIB and the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), for example, which finance other energy
sources. It is to be noted that Euratom loans are given at the market rates available to the Commission.

As the legal basis for the facility is the Euratom Treaty, Euratom loans can only be granted to nuclear

2.
projects.

3. Within the Member States, projects for which loans are granted are governed by the aforementioned
Directives to the extent that they are carried out by awarding authorities to which these Directives apply.
Other operators may fall under Council Directive 93/38/EEC of 14 June 1993 coordinating the
procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and telecommunications
sectors. In third countries, the respective domestic law applies. All grants provided by PHARE and TACIS
in any third country have to comply with the public procurement principles described in the applicable
Community Directives. However, the detailed rules laid down in the Directives only apply in Member
States.

(2004/C 84 E/0814)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1500/03

by Florence Kuntz (EDD) to the Commission

(5 May 2003)

Subject: Safeguarding the Iraqi archaeological heritage

The bombs that have been raining down on Mesopotamia since 20 March and the destruction and looting
of the Baghdad Archaeological Museum remind us that Iraq’s archaeological heritage has since 1991 been
in peril.

Apart from the destruction of archaeological sites during the Gulf War there has been the looting, the
departure of foreign archaeological missions, the abandonment of digs and trafficking with the West in
stolen property.