WRITTEN QUESTION E-3108/03 by Philip Claeys (NI) to the Commission. Subsidies.
Date: 2003-10-22
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU financing, EU programme, anti-discriminatory measure, anti-racist movement, racism

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Official Journal of the European Union

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20.3.2004

(2004/C 70 E/236)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3107/03

by Adriana Poli Bortone (UEN) to the Commission

(22 October 2003)

Subject: Trans-European networks

The Van Miert document, under heading 3, refers to Corridor 8.

However, the Commission proposal of 1 October 2003 no longer includes that corridor aming the
29 priority projects.

In reply to the protest of the Italian delegation to the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council,
Commissioner de Palacio appears to have stated that the reason for its exclusion is the impossibility of
allowing access to the corridor to countries which are not as yet EU Member States.

This exclusion criterion has not, however, been applied to other priority projects that appear on the
1 October list, including No 7 (motorway route Igoumenitsa/Patras-Athens-Sofia-Budapest), No 18 (inland
waterway route Rhine/Meuse-Main-Danube) and No 22 (Rail line Athens-Sofia-Budapest-Vienna-Prague-
Nuremberg/Dresden).

Will the Commission reconsider the exclusion of Corridor 8 from the priority list, given its crucial
importance for the democratisation process in the Balkan region?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(26 November 2003)

The report of the high level group, which was composed of representatives of the 15 Member States, the
10 new ones, Bulgaria, Romania, EIB and the Commission and chaired by Mr Karel Van Miert, was
delivered to the Commission on 30 June 2003. It includes in list 3 (Other projects important for territorial
cohesion) the rail line Bari-Varna. This line is within the pan-European Corridor VIII as defined in the
Ministerial Conferences in Crete and Helsinki in 1994 and 1997.

The mandate of the high level group was to identify priority projects on the transEuropean transport
network (TEN-T). As Corridor VIII is located outside the territory of the Union, (with the exception of the
ports of Bari and Brindisi), and will remain so after enlargement, it was not within the mandate of the
group to consider it, or any other corridor, for inclusion in the list of TEN-T priority projects.

By the same logic the Commission did not include Corridor VIII in its proposal to modify Decision on the
TEN-T guidelines adopted on 1 October 2003 (1). Projects 18 and 22 which follow the route on certain
pan-European Corridors concern exclusively works located on the territory of the Union or Acceding
Countries.

(1) COM(2003) 564 final.

(2004/C 70 E/237)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3108/03

by Philip Claeys (NI) to the Commission

(22 October 2003)

Subject: Subsidies

Can the Commission state whether
organisations, who say they are engaged in the fight against racism?

it provides financial and/or other

support

to the following

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If it does, can it also provide details, for each organisation, of the sums involved for each of the years
2000, 2001, 2002 and, if possible, 2003?

Under which programmes have subsidies been granted to these organisations:

(cid:1) Searchlight (UK);

(cid:1) Commission for Racial Equality, CRE (UK);

(cid:1) Liga voor Mensenrechten (Flanders, Belgium);

(cid:1) Mouvement contre le Racisme, l’Antisémitisme et la Xénophobie, MRAX (Belgium);

(cid:1) Centrum voor Gelijkheid van Kansen en Racismebestrijding (Belgium);

(cid:1) Antifascistische Onderzoeksgroep Kafka (Netherlands);

(cid:1) Ras l’Front (France);

(cid:1) SOS Racisme (France);

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(4 December 2003)

None of the eight organisations listed is in receipt of direct financial support from Community funds.
Under the Community Programme to Combat Discrimination 2001-2006, some of these organisations are
currently or have been in the past, partners in transnational projects, which are coordinated and managed
by other organisations.

(2004/C 70 E/238)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3111/03

by Regina Bastos (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(17 October 2003)

Subject: Possible state or Community subsidies to the German Rieker holding

The German Rieker holding recently merged with SCHUH-UNION. Rieker recently relocated its shoe
production to Romania, under the name ‘Rieker Romania Ltd.’ and also relocated production units to
Poland and Turkey.

It is possible that this company is making use of subsidies from within the European Union to set up in
one country, and then move out to other regions or countries so as to obtain fresh subsidies.

Were pre-accession subsidies granted to the candidate countries, specifically Poland as a country awaiting
accession and possibly Romania as a candidate for accession, with the purpose of modernising the
economic fabric?

Did Rieker benefit from such aid, specifically from the allocation of Community or state aid from the
above countries, where it set up production units?

If so, on what dates were these allocations made, and what was their total value?