WRITTEN QUESTION E-1882/03 by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission. Trade impact of euro.
Date: 2003-06-06
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: euro, goods and services, gross domestic product, investment income, non-participating country (euro area), participating country (euro area), trade statistics, trading operation

27.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 78 E/393

As regards transparency requirements, the Commission assumes that the Honourable Member refers to the
recent Commission proposal for a Directive on the harmonisation of transparency requirements with
regard to information about issuers whose securities admitted to trading on a regulated market in Member
States (3). This proposal covers requirements in relation to the disclosure of periodic and ongoing
information about such issuers. It would allow the issuer’s home Member State to impose more stringent
requirements in this respect, but not the host Member State. With regard to the majority of the bond
markets, and with regard to third country issuers of shares or bonds, the home Member State would be the
one where the company’s bonds are admitted to trading on a regulated market. For the remaining, the
home Member State will be the one where the issuer has its registered office, in practice very often the one
where the issuer’s securities are also admitted to trading on a regulated market. The proposal is currently
discussed in the Parliament and in the Council.

(1) OJ C 222 E, 18.9.2003, p. 10.
(2) COM(2003) 284 final.
(3) COM(2003) 138 final.

(2004/C 78 E/0416)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1882/03

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(6 June 2003)

Subject: Trade impact of euro

Will the Commission state the proportion of GDP of each Member State traded with euro and non-euro
EU Member States in each year for the last five years? Will it give the figures using trade in goods, trade in
services and trade in goods and services? Will it further as a memo item give the figure for investment
income broken down in the same way?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(17 July 2003)

Table 1 (a, b) presents each Member State’s share of total imports and exports of goods as a percentage of
gross domestic product (GDP); this is sent direct to the Honourable Member and to the Parliament’s
Secretariat.
figures for each individual Member State distinguish between trade with
eurozone, and trade with non-eurozone Member States respectively. Note that this trade data has been
obtained from Trade Statistics of New Cronos (Eurostat), where imports are calculated using c.i.f. (cost,
insurance & freight) values, i.e. figures are inclusive of transport and insurance costs.

In particular,

Balance of payments statistics are the only sources available for trade in services and income investment
figures, and are an alternative source for trade in goods. For goods and services, as stated in the reply by
the Commission to the Honourable Member’s written questions E-2464/02 (1), E-2465/02 (1) and E-1349/
03 (2), the data provided by Member States to the Commission (Eurostat) to compile the Balance of
Payments of the Union are based on a different methodology (principle of consignment) from that used by
Member States for compiling and publishing their national Balance of Payments (principle of origin).
In response to question E-1349/03, the Commission provided information on exports and imports of
services between each Member State and the EU15, including bilateral details for those countries for which
this information was available. EU15 aggregates are reproduced here in table 2 (a-d), sent direct to the
Honourable Member and to the Parliament’s Secretariat. Regarding investment
income, due to the
difficulties faced by Member States to correctly identify the residency of the holder of the securities, it may
not be possible to compile the corresponding payments providing a geographical breakdown (3).

The European Central Bank (ECB)
is responsible for producing and publishing aggregated balance of
payments figures for the eurozone. Euro area Member States transmit data on the contributions of the
euro area balance of payments to the ECB [i.e. extra euro area flows, as regards goods, services and
investment income], under the agreement that only the euro area aggregate would be made available to

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the public. Indeed, these are the only meaningful figures for policy purposes. Methodological differences do
not allow us to produce eurozone (and EU non-eurozone) aggregates comparable to ECB aggregates.

As regards trade plus services data, information from tables 1 and 2 cannot be added because table 1
includes c.i.f. data, and therefore addition would imply double counting of those costs.

(1) OJ C 28 E, 6.2.2003.
(2) OJ C 268 E, 7.11.2003, p. 188.
(3)

For further details see ECB Monthly Bulletin (cid:1) euro area statistics, Methodological Notes, Chapter 8, page 4, http://
www.ecb.int/stats/mb/ecb_bull_8note.pdf

(2004/C 78 E/0417)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1979/03

by Ian Hudghton (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(10 June 2003)

Subject: Synthetic progestins in contraceptive pills and Hormone Replacement Therapy

There is growing concern amongst users of oral contraceptives and HRT treatments which contain
synthetic progestins following reports on possible links between synthetic progestins and breast cancer, as
well as other health risks. Synthetic progestins are known to lead to oestrogen dominance which is, in
turn, linked with breast cancer.

Can the Commission indicate what research is being undertaken to establish whether women are at risk
from synthetic progestins; what guidance is being given to medical practitioners about using products
containing synthetic progestins while the safety of these products is in doubt; and what public information
is being provided to EU citizens to enable them to make informed choices about pharmaceutical products
containing synthetic progestins?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(2 July 2003)

The Commission is aware of the concern amongst users of combined oral contraceptives (COCs) and
Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT).

The European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products (EMEA) Committee for Proprietary
Medicinal Products (CPMP) on 28 September 2001 adopted a Public Assessment Report on ‘Combined oral
contraceptives and venous thromboembolism’ and a Position statement after its assessment of ‘third
generation combined contraceptives containing the progestins desogestrel or gestodene and the risk of
venous thromboembolism.’

In this report the CPMP considers that the Summaries of Products Characteristics (SPC) (i.e. the scientific
documentation related to the products) and the User Package Leaflets should reflect the precautions for use
of these products and should be communicated to the prescribers of COCs as well as the women in need
of contraceptive therapy.

Last December 2002 the Member States medicine authorities adopted a core SPC for HRT with
information on the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer.