WRITTEN QUESTION E-3632/03 by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. Statements by André Sapir (adviser to the Commission President, Romano Prodi) concerning EU cohesion policy.
Date: 2003-12-05
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU regional policy, European Commission, economic and social cohesion, less-favoured region, public statement, region-EU relationship

27.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 78 E/617

(2004/C 78 E/0651)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3631/03

by Proinsias De Rossa (PSE) to the Commission

(5 December 2003)

Subject: Consultation with charities with regard to the proposal relating to the imposition of VAT on

postal services

As the Commission is aware, the proposal to impose VAT on postal services (1) will have serious financial
consequences for charities. What consultations did the Commission undertake with charitable organi-
sations, particularly those from Ireland, concerning the implications of this move prior to the publication
of its proposal in May 2003? How was the outcome of any such consultations taken into account in the
Commission’s final proposal?

(1) COM(2003) 234.

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(28 January 2004)

The Commission was engaged in a long consultation process prior to making its proposal on postal
services. The Commission would like to assure the Honourable Member that charities, as well as other
customers of direct mail, were in fact consulted. Irish Charities were represented in that process. As early
as mid 2000, Commission officials were already discussing the effects of introducing VAT on the postal
sector with the European Committee on VAT (of which the Irish Cancer Society is a member), as well as
with many other groups and bodies representing postal consumers. As a result of those consultations, the
Commission included an optional reduced rate (which Ireland could set at 5 %) and widened the scope of
that option in order to include direct mail, something of interest to charities. The possibility given to
Member States of introducing a reduced rate together with the savings resulting from the right to deduct
for public postal operators, would broadly neutralise any increase in postal prices.

(2004/C 78 E/0652)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3632/03

by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(5 December 2003)

Subject: Statements by André Sapir (adviser to the Commission President, Romano Prodi) concerning EU

cohesion policy

Voicing a commonplace view which appears to be shared by Spain, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, the
United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany, André Sapir (an adviser to the Commission President, Romano
Prodi) recently stated in Barcelona that ‘cohesion has served its purpose but what we need now is growth’.
He even declared that cohesion policy should in future focus on the actual Member States and not on the
regions with the lowest per-capita income.

What are the impact and the significance of such statements made by a person who, in his capacity as
Mr Prodi’s adviser, dares to dismiss (describing it as ‘a political point of view’) the idea that the regions are
‘partners with a special role to play in the implementation of Community policies’? Who authorised him to
state that an ‘economic’ rather than a ‘political’ reason lies behind the idea of concentrating projects in the
Member States and gearing them to growth in the EU’s wealthiest and most industrialised regions, thereby
marginalising areas which would have plenty of development capacity if only the structural divides caused
by detrimental policies conducted by the EU and its Member States could be bridged?

C 78 E/618

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

27.3.2004

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(8 January 2004)

The question of the Honourable Member refers to a statement made by André Sapir in an interview
published in El País in early November 2003. The occasion of the interview was a seminar at IESE Business
School, where Mr Sapir was presenting the report of the independent study group established on the
initiative of President Prodi, which he chaired. His statements reflected the views expressed in the report
rather than the views of President Prodi or the Commission. As a matter of fact the cover page of the Sapir
‘The Report represents only the opinion of the independent Group and does not
report states that:
necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission.’

(2004/C 78 E/0653)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3645/03

by Salvador Jové Peres (GUE/NGL)
and Pedro Marset Campos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(9 December 2003)

Subject: European Union/Morocco agreement

At a conference held in Almeria on 24 October 2003, a Commission official acknowledged that the fruit
and vegetables imported from Morocco to European markets had on a number of occasions exceeded the
quotas laid down by the association agreement. He specifically acknowledged that Morocco had imported
into Europe quantities of tomatoes and courgettes in excess of the authorised quotas. According to press
reports, he explained that the new courgette quota negotiated with Morocco was nothing new and posed
no threat to producers in south-eastern Spain, since Morocco had previously been importing similar
quantities illegally, and the impact on the market would go unnoticed.

If the Commission was aware that import quotas were being exceeded, why did it take no action?
Following the renewal of the EU/Morocco association agreement, how will it monitor compliance with
these quotas? What action will it take if the quotas are exceeded?

(2004/C 78 E/0654)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3646/03

by Salvador Jové Peres (GUE/NGL)
and Pedro Marset Campos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(9 December 2003)

Subject: European Union/Morocco agreement

The Council of Ministers for Agriculture, meeting in March and December 1997, stressed ‘the importance
of taking account, when defining the Community position in negotiations with third countries, of the
characteristics of the Community agricultural market and of the socio-economic repercussions of the
proposed concessions on that market, as well as of the need to develop a consistent overall strategy on the
subject’, and they encouraged ‘the Commission to conduct regular analyses of the situation regarding trade
in agricultural products and in particular of the impact of preferential arrangements for imports of such
products into the Community. They stressed’the need to have available, before the adoption of negotiating
directives or autonomous measures involving concessions on agricultural products, an analysis of the
impact of the concessions liable to be granted to third countries or groups of third countries as well as of
the advantages which could result for the European Union’.

Has the Commission carried out the impact studies called for by the Council
in order to define the
Community position in negotiations with Morocco? Will it forward them to Parliament? What is the
scheduled timetable for submitting the regular impact studies on the association agreement with Morocco
called for by the Council?