WRITTEN QUESTION E-0232/04 by Roger Helmer (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Euro.
Date: 2004-02-02
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Economic and Monetary Union, President of the Commission, United Kingdom, euro, euro area, impact study, non-participating country (euro area), public statement, stability pact

C 84 E/554

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.4.2004

Supplementary answer
given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(29 April 2004)

The Commission is sending direct to the Honourable Member and to Parliament’s Secretariat a computer
print-out containing the information requested.

(2004/C 84 E/0632)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0232/04

by Roger Helmer (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(2 February 2004)

Subject: Euro

Does the Commission agree with former Commission President Jacques Delors, who has been reported as
saying that the euro-zone has failed to exploit the economic potential of the single currency, and that
therefore, with hindsight, the UK was right to retain the pound and to decline to join the euro?

Does the Commission as a whole agree with current Commission President Romano Prodi, who has said
that the Stability and Growth Pact, designed to underpin the single currency, is ‘stupid’?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(25 March 2004)

Exploiting the economic potential of the single currency goes beyond adopting the euro.
It implies
developing an overall economic strategy aiming at increasing growth potential. This is what the Lisbon
European Council’s (23/24 March 2000) strategy aims at. Economic reforms to raise Europe’s growth
potential are a key element of this strategy. Progress in implementing that strategy is reviewed each year
by the Spring European Council on the basis of a Commission Report. The latest Spring Report, adopted
by the Commission on 21 January 2004 concludes that although progress has been made in a number of
key fields, the implementation of the reforms by the Member States does not measure up to the task, and a
number of sectors are even encountering significant difficulties.

Nevertheless, there has been some progress in job creation: 6 million jobs created since 1999, in spite of
the economic slowdown; significant improvements in long-term unemployment and the rate of female
employment; opening up to competition of several strategic network markets (telecommunications, energy,
rail freight, etc.); internet take-up in schools, businesses, public administrations and households.

The Commission has always said that the United Kingdom will be welcomed in the euro area if it meets
the convergence criteria as laid down by the EC Treaty, should the United Kingdom decide that it wishes
to adopt the euro. On 9 June 2003 the United Kingdom Government also published its own assessment of
its five economic tests for the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) entry, acknowledging the benefits
from adopting the euro but deeming that the moment was not ripe.

On 27 November 2002 the Commission adopted a communication laying down proposals to reinforce the
co-ordination of budgetary policies (1). The proposals aimed at strengthening the economic rationale
underpinning budgetary policy decisions as part of general strategy to strengthen economic policy
co-ordination, putting more emphasis on the interrelation between budgetary policy and the need for
structural reforms in the Union.

3.4.2004

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 84 E/555

On 13 January 2004, the Commission further adopted a three-pronged strategy to clarify and improve
economic policy coordination and surveillance (2). As part of this strategy, based on the experience of the
five first years of EMU and building on the November 2002 Communication, the Commission, will make
new proposals for the strengthening of economic governance in the future.
Improvements in the
implementation of the Stability and Growth Pact will form part of this initiative.

(1) COM(2002) 668 final.
(2) See also answer to Written Question E-4071/03 by Mr Ribeiro e Castro, See page 520.

(2004/C 84 E/0633)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0246/04

by Joan Colom i Naval (PSE) to the Commission

(2 February 2004)

Subject: Start of work on the Ebro Transfer

The Spanish Ministry of the Environment has announced that the government will lay the first stone in the
work on the Ebro Transfer at
the end of February, more specifically on the section linking the
underground stretch of the River Segura to the Campos del Rio aqueduct in Murcia and the mouth of the
Saltador al Camino del Cerro Minado tunnel in Almanzora (Almeria). Likewise, a company under contract
from the Spanish Ministry of the Environment has started excavations at Ulldecona and Alcanar in the
province of Tarragona. At her meeting with the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment,
Public Health and Consumer Policy on 16 December 2003,
the Environment Commissioner gave
assurances that the work on the Ebro Transfer would be viewed as a whole and not as separate projects.

Can the projects in question be financed separately or must they be included in the overall Ebro Transfer
package? Has an application for European Union funding been made for these projects? Will such funding
be granted?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(18 March 2004)

The Spanish authorities have submitted to the Commission for co-financing under the Structural Funds
and the Cohesion Fund a set of four projects linked to the Ebro transfer. For one of the projects, the
northern sector, community co-financing has been requested under the Cohesion Fund while for the other
three (major projects) the requests have been made under the European Regional Development Fund
(ERDF), within the framework of
the regional Operational Programmes for Valencia, Murcia and
Andalucía.

The dates from which expenditure can be considered eligible for these projects is 29 December 2004 for
the Cohesion Fund and the 1 January 2000 for the Structural Funds. It is not necessary for the Spanish
authorities to await a decision by the Commission to launch these projects, although in such a situation
the authorities incur the risk that the project does not meet the conditions necessary for approval by the
Commission as set out in the relevant regulations.

While the above-mentioned projects have been presented as a group and, will, therefore, be evaluated as
such by the Commission; it remains the exclusive competence of the Spanish authorities to decide on the
most appropriate way to implement them,
including matters related to the number of construction
contracts considered necessary for technical or efficiency reasons.

At present, the Commission is in the process of analysing the submitted projects. A decision concerning
the possible allocation of Community funds for these projects can only be taken once all the information
has been carefully analysed. This decision will be made according to the existing rules and procedures as
set down in the relevant regulations, and in full compliance with the applicable Community legislation and
policies including those relating to the environment.