WRITTEN QUESTION E-4057/03 by Elspeth Attwooll (ELDR) to the Commission. Trans-European telecommunications networks.
Date: 2004-01-13
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Internet, regional development, rural region, telecommunications policy, trans-European network, transmission network

3.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 84 E/139

The Honourable Member is also invited to refer to the Commission’s response to written question
P-3594/03 by Mr Kreissl-Dörfler (3).

(1) OJ L 43, 14.2.1997.
(2) OJ L 268, 18.10.2003.
(3) See page 69.

(2004/C 84 E/0177)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-4037/03

by Hiltrud Breyer (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

Subject: Health reform and natural remedies in Germany

(12 January 2004)

the German Government’s

As part of its health reforms, Germany has changed the law and made competition between conventional
pharmaceutical medicines and natural remedies virtually impossible. Although experts have been working
on a positive list of medicinal products including herbal, homeopathic and anthroposophic remedies for
years,
so-called health reform has now removed the possibility of
reimbursement for natural medicines through health insurance schemes. Thanks to the health reform,
a distortion in competition has emerged that benefits pharmaceutical products. Many patients use natural
treatments and remedies, which produce better results in many cases than conventional treatment. These
successes should not be brought to an end by market competition between pharmaceutical and natural
products favouring the former. As well as the prospect of worse treatment for patients opting for natural
medicine, small manufacturers of natural remedies in particular are threatened with bankruptcy.

How does the Commission view this situation from the point of view of competition law?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(10 February 2004)

It is established case law of the European Courts that Community law does not detract from the powers of
Member States to organise their social security systems and to adopt, in particular, provisions intended to
govern the consumption of pharmaceutical preparations in order to promote the financial stability of their
health-care insurance schemes (1). Based on the description given by the Honourable Member,
the
Commission does not have reason to believe that the legal provisions adopted by the German legislator
with the object of refusing insured persons the right to be supplied with prescription-free medicinal
preparations at the expense of the statutory sickness funds would infringe European competition law.

(1) See for example Judgment of the Court of 7 February 1984 in Case 238/82 Duphar BV and others v. The

Netherlands State [1984] European Court Reports 1984 page 523.

(2004/C 84 E/0178)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-4057/03

by Elspeth Attwooll (ELDR) to the Commission

(13 January 2004)

Subject: Trans-European telecommunications networks

What proportion of rural residents in the EU have broadband internet access, and how does this compare
to that in urban areas? What is the projected impact in terms of economic growth of expanding
broadband access in rural areas?

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Official Journal of the European Union

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3.4.2004

What role has the Trans-European telecommunications networks policy played in rolling out broadband
internet access in rural areas? How might its role increase in the future, and does the Commission foresee
the development and adoption of any other policy initiatives that aim specifically to improve the provision
of broadband internet access in rural areas, particularly in the light of its work programme commitment to
invest further in networks and knowledge? Does the Commission plan to make use of new technologies
such as Galileo in this context?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(17 February 2004)

At a time when broadband internet connections are experiencing very strong growth in the EU, the
increase in the number of subscribers has mainly been in urban areas. While broadband access is available
to more than 90 % of the population in urban areas in nearly all 15 Member States via Digital Subscriber
Line (DSL), the EU average in rural areas is less than 50 %.

This situation is likely to change rapidly, however. In particular, the exchanges of good practice proposed
at EU level (workshop on local and regional broadband initiatives held on 15 December 2003) have
shown the growing commitment on the part of local public players to boost the deployment of electronic
communications infrastructures in their territory, especially in areas which the market players would not
normally enter. The Member States have moreover pledged to propose a national strategy for the
development of high-speed by the end of 2003. The Commission will report to the Council and the
European Parliament on these national strategies, including recommendations for their implementation in
May 2004.

The Commission notes that broadband networks are increasingly considered a factor in the attractiveness
of an area. For example, several studies carried out among small and medium-sized businesses show that,
in some areas which are so far not served, more than 30 % of businesses plan to move out if no broadband
internet access is provided within the next
telecommunications
observatory in France). Information and communications technologies are now regarded as a competitive-
ness factor which is likely to affect both the maintenance and development of business and employment as
well as the capacity to create new services (eGovernment, eHealth, eLearning, eBusiness, etc).

three years (study by the regional

The Growth Initiative for the deployment of trans-European networks adopted in December 2003 devotes
one of its quick-start programmes to bridging the digital divide by providing broadband connections in
remote and rural areas through the use of different technologies. The revision of the programming
documents for the Community Structural Funds (CSF) this year should also boost public investment in the
deployment of infrastructure by drawing in particular on the guidelines on the conditions and procedures
governing the use of the Structural Funds in the electronic communications sector adopted by the
Commission in July 2003 … The Structural Funds have earmarked over EUR 4,7 billion for the promotion
for less favoured regions
including telecommunications infrastructures,
of
(Objective 1) during the period 2000-2006. An extra EUR 1 billion has been made available for non-
Objective 1 regions in the same field during the same period. Moreover,
the European Regional
Development Fund is co-funding regional programmes of
innovative actions with over 70 regional
governments focusing on the information society to explore new means for promoting the efficient use of
information and communications technologies to boost regional development. In this way, for example,
the Andalusian Guadalinfo programme is designed for peripheral rural towns with less than 20 000
inhabitants (1).

the information society,

The total investment mobilised will be defined in the light of the commitments given by the Member
States which have agreed to produce a national strategy for the development of high-speed, on the basis of
which the Commission will present a report to the Telecom Council in June 2004. Furthermore, in May
2004 the Commission will be launching a Digital Divide Forum and inviting all players concerned to
debate these issues of access and cohesion

All the information and provisions now appear in the Communication ‘Connecting Europe at High Speed:
Recent developments in the electronic communications sector’, which the Commission adopted on
3 February 2004.

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 84 E/141

Although the Galileo satellite navigation and positioning system is not chiefly intended for tele-
communications applications, it will bring a number of benefits to this sector, in particular by making
broadband systems transmission more effective. In addition, Galileo receivers will provide a privileged
platform for a series of future applications such as mobile telephones with positioning navigators and
receivers (in vehicles, for example), with an emergency call system, for which the number to dial in Europe
is 112.

(1) http://www.guadalinfo.net/

(2004/C 84 E/0179)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-4061/03

by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

Subject: Noise from aircraft at Eleftherios Venizelos airport

(13 January 2004)

The noise caused by aircraft landing at and taking off from Eleftherios Venizelos, Athens international
airport, is severely disturbing the 400 000 inhabitants of the region.

With one voice, the Municipal Council of Vari (cid:1) whose views are shared by the Ombudsman (cid:1) accuses
the responsible bodies (the Civil Aviation Service and the Airport Administration) of allowing aircraft to fly
over densely populated areas in order to save a trifling amount of time and fuel instead of turning in from
the sea, which is 5-10 kilometres further, despite recommendations to the contrary from competent
aviation organisations. Moreover, the airport operates throughout the night, often allowing noisy aircraft
to fly overhead in breach of Directive 2002/30/EC (1)

What measures can the Commission take to ensure that:

1.

the appropriate basic procedures for landing and take-off are selected, the noise produced is reduced
and air corridors are mapped out to minimise the disturbance from passing aircraft;

2. on the basis of the ‘polluter-pays-principle’, air traffic control towers operate noise monitoring systems

to impose fines on companies using noisy aircraft approaching the airport;

3. night flights are restricted to the absolutely essential, which is a rule already in force at many major

airports in Europe?

(1) OJ L 85, 28.3.2002, p. 40.

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(17 February 2004)

Directive 2002/30/EC (1) contains no provisions on a maximum threshold for noise emissions from
overflying aircraft.

Its purpose is to define the conditions and procedures which must be complied with before noise-related
operating restrictions can be introduced.

The scope of the Directive is to lay down rules on the withdrawal of the noisiest aircraft of Chapter 3 of
Annex 16 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation and on the introduction of partial operating
restrictions which limit the operation of civil subsonic aeroplanes in given time periods.

Although the Directive provides a framework which must be respected when introducing operating
restrictions, it is in no way confined to imposing standards for the level of noise emissions from aircraft.