WRITTEN QUESTION E-2430/03 by Niels Busk (ELDR) to the Commission. State aid to Italian farmers.
Date: 2003-07-22
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Italy, State aid, control of State aid, dairy production

C 65 E/150

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

13.3.2004

Article 10 of the final text of Council Directive 2003/48/EC on the taxation of savings income in the
3.
form of interest payments only lays down the starting date of the transitional period in which Belgium,
Luxembourg and Austria will not be required to apply the provisions on the automatic exchange of
information between tax administrations. As is clear from Article 10(2), the duration of the transitional
period is no longer set in advance, as it depends on the date on which Switzerland, Liechtenstein, San
Maríno, Monaco and Andorra undertake to exchange information with all the Member States upon
request, as defined in the OECD Model Agreement of April 2002 (confirmation of the same undertaking
should also relate to the United States).

The final text of the Directive therefore does not provide any guarantee as to how long the restrictions on
access to banking information for tax purposes which still apply in Belgium, Luxembourg and Austria will
be maintained. The last sentence of Article 10(3) even offers any of the three Member States the option of
electing to lift the restrictions before the end of the transitional period and participating fully in the system
of automatic exchange of
information with all the Member States, no longer having to apply the
withholding tax.

(1) OJ L 157, 26.6.2003.

(2004/C 65 E/165)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2427/03

by Niels Busk (ELDR) to the Commission

(16 July 2003)

Subject: State aid for Italian dairy producers

What is the value of the State aid which the Council recently decided to grant to Italian dairy farmers in
relation to what would have been the amount if the superlevy had been paid when it was due?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(12 September 2003)

The Commission is not in a position to make such a calculation. The value of the State aid will depend on
various variables.

These are notably:

(cid:1) the date when a given superlevy payment should have been made by a farmer;

(cid:1) the amount of the superlevy for which the repayment facility authorised by the Council decision will

actually be used;

(cid:1) the applicable reference rate; and

(cid:1) the actual repayment period offered to and chosen by beneficiaries of the facility.

(2004/C 65 E/166)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2430/03

by Niels Busk (ELDR) to the Commission

(22 July 2003)

Subject: State aid to Italian farmers

Will the Commission challenge the Council’s decision to approve Italian State aid to Italian milk producers
in the Court of Justice?

13.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 65 E/151

If not, what are the ‘exceptional circumstances’ justifying the decision (see Article 88(2), third paragraph of
the Treaty)?

If the same ‘exceptional circumstances’ exist in other Member States or new Member States, will the
Commission approve corresponding State aid in those cases?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(12 September 2003)

The Commission does not intend to challenge the Council decision.

As to the exceptional circumstances recognised by the Council, the Commission would refer to the text of
the Council Decision 2003/530/EC (1).

The Commission considers that the Council decision in question can not be invoked as a precedent for
eventual future implementation problems of the milk quota levy in Italy or in other Member States.

(1) 2003/530/EC: Council Decision of 16 July 2003 on the compatibility with the Common market of an aid that the

Italian Republic intends to grant to its milk producers, OJ L 184, 23.7.2003.

(2004/C 65 E/167)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2437/03

by Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(22 July 2003)

Subject: Construction of a polluting factory

People living in Tabacô, Arcos de Valdevez, Portugal, are concerned at the construction of a factory
belonging to the plastics and metal processing company company Sarreliber (cid:1) Transformação de Plásticos
e Metais, SA, which is part of the French group ORIAL, based in Paris.

According to the Arcos de Valdevez Municipal Council, the investment project envisages the creation of an
industrial unit initially offering 105 jobs, designed for the processing and coating of surfaces and injection
of plastic components for the car, perfume, sanitary and household electrical goods industries.

Public concern centres on the prospect that the above chromium coating unit will be using heavy metals
such as chromium and nickel, which are highly polluting and pose a threat to public health and the
environment, and the fact that the site is close to the River Vez and to social facilities used by children and
elderly people.

The River Vez, a tributary of the River Lima, is included in the Natura 2000 network. Local people also
state that the proposed factory has already been rejected in Galicia and the United Kingdom.

Bearing in mind that local environmentalists have already written to the Environment Commissioner, can
the Commission state its position on the above matter?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(23 September 2003)

The proposed factory in question has been the subject of several requests for information and complaints
received by the Commission (reference Nos 2003/4425, 2003/4557 and 2003/4558).