WRITTEN QUESTION P-0454/04 by Ioannis Marínos (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Unemployment benefits in Greece.
Date: 2004-02-10
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU law - national law, Greece, long-term unemployment, unemployment insurance

27.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 78 E/953

(2004/C 78 E/1007)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0330/04

by Luigi Vinci (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(10 February 2004)

Subject: Hospitals for ‘national defence’ in Italy

According to a series of articles published in the Italian press the L. Spallanzani hospital in Rome, which
specialises in infectious diseases, is gradually becoming a hospital for ‘national defence’. This means that it
is to have (cid:1) if it does not already have (cid:1) high-security laboratories to combat level-4 bacteria and viruses
(Ebola, smallpox, infectious diseases, etc.).

Since the hospital is located in one of the most densely populated districts of Rome, can the Commission
say whether it has obtained the required certification from international and European bodies allowing it
to accommodate the necessary BSL4 chambers and, more specifically, in accordance with what forms of
certification the L. Spallanzani hospital houses the highly pathogenic level 4 bacteria and viruses?

Finally, can the Commission say whether it knows of any bilateral agreements between Italy and the
United States to combat bioterrorism?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(4 March 2004)

The Commission would refer
Mr Papayannakis (1)

(1) See page 930.

the Honourable Member

to its answer

to written E-0095/04 by

(2004/C 78 E/1008)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0454/04

by Ioannis Marínos (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(10 February 2004)

Subject: Unemployment benefits in Greece

The main opposition party in Greece alleges that the Greek authorities only grant unemployment benefits
to those persons who remain unemployed for 12 months, and that they take benefits away from those
who go over this period, even if only by one day. It also alleges that unemployment benefits in Greece
amount to barely 60 % of the Community average.

Is this practice by the Greek authorities compatible with Community regulations on the unemployed and
long-term unemployment?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(4 March 2004)

The Commission has no direct competence in the field of unemployment insurance. It is therefore up to
each Member State to organise its own unemployment benefit systems. Community legislation that applies
to unemployment benefit schemes only concerns the rights of migrant workers and equal treatment of
men and women. It does not harmonise benefit levels or the design of such schemes in the Member States.
It should also be noted that benefit levels often reflect national earning levels.

Information on unemployment benefit schemes in other Member States is available in the Mutual
Information System on Social Protection (Missoc) on the Commission’s web site: (http://europa.eu.int/
comm/employment_social/missoc/index_en.html).

C 78 E/954

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

27.3.2004

The EU currently encourages Member States in their efforts to modernise labour markets through the
European Employment Strategy,
insurance schemes more
supportive of active and preventive measures for the unemployed. The aim is to prevent inflow into
long-term unemployment and to promote the sustainable integration into employment of unemployed and
inactive people.

in particular by making unemployment

(2004/C 78 E/1009)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0523/04

by Emmanouil Mastorakis (PSE) to the Commission

Subject: Second and Third Community Support Frameworks

(17 February 2004)

Will the Commission give the take-up votes for the 2003 estimates for the Member States of the European
Union in respect of the Second and Third Community Support Frameworks?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(5 March 2004)

The Commission is collecting the information it needs to answer the question. It will communicate its
findings as soon as possible.

(2004/C 78 E/1010)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0542/04

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(26 February 2004)

Subject: Active publication of information about subsidies and ratios between payments to large and small

farms under the CAP

1.
Is the Commission aware of the report by the British organisation Oxfam which indicates that seven
large land-owners in Britain receive an average of GBP 285 714 per annum in cereal subsidies from the
EU, while 15 181 small farmers in Britain receive an annual average of only GBP 3 632 in EU cereal
subsidies?

2.
Can the Commission confirm that a very large proportion of these subsidies goes to the affluent
regions of Eastern England and Lincolnshire and that this allocation ratio, which benefits large farmers,
also will not change significantly after the proposed agricultural policy reform?

3.
Is the Commission aware of similar situations in other EU Member States, particularly those where
there are big disparities in the size of arable and livestock farms? Are such situations most extreme in the
southern Member States?

Can the Commission outline the distribution of EU farm subsidies to Dutch farmers in 2001, 2002

4.
and 2003, broken down according to farm size? If so, how soon can it do so? If not, why not?

5.
Can the Commission tell me which ten Dutch legal persons received most in EU farm subsidies in
2001, 2002 and 2003 and how much farm subsidy they received? If so, how soon can it do so? If not,
why not?

6.
Does the Commission agree that the European public have a right to complete information about
where EU farm subsidies go, who receives them and what kind of farms benefit most/least from them? If
not, why not?