WRITTEN QUESTION P-0767/04 by Brian Crowley (UEN) to the Commission. eEurope 2005 Action Plan.
Date: 2004-03-04
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: action programme, cultural pluralism, digital divide, economic and social cohesion, information society, information technology, language policy, peripheral region, rural region, transmission network

3.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 84 E/875

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(15 April 2004)

The fundamental point is that the principle of complete freedom of movement of capital is embodied in
the Treaty itself. Articles 56 to 60 of the EC Treaty established new rules on movements of capital.
Article 56, which is directly applicable, introduced the principle of complete freedom of movement of
capital and payments, both between Member States and between Member States and third countries, while
Article 58 defines the areas where Member States are allowed to retain provisions on information,
supervision and tax law provided that capital movements are not hampered.

Community law requires prior information to be provided when securities are offered to the public or
admitted to trading on a regulated market.

Directive 2003/71/EC (1) does not authorise host Member States to oppose a sale or require further
information on the grounds that documentation is incomplete or insufficient concerning the risk factor
involved in the investment if that documentation has been approved by the competent authority in the
country of origin.

On the other hand, the Directive does not prohibit host Member States from laying down specific rules on
the use of advertising when securities are offered to the public.

(1) Directive 2003/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003 on the prospectus to be
published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading and amending Directive 2001/34/EC,
OJ L 345, 31.12.2003.

(2004/C 84 E/0969)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0767/04

by Brian Crowley (UEN) to the Commission

(4 March 2004)

Subject: eEurope 2005 Action Plan

Discussions are currently taking place with regard to the implementation of the eEurope 2005 Action Plan.

Will the Commission make a statement regarding the guarantees that will be included in this Plan to
ensure that cultural and linguistic diversities will be protected at all times within the framework of the
implementation of this programme, and can the Commission provide guarantees that the benefits of new
and evolving information technologies will be extended to both rural and urban areas and equally to
peripheral areas within the EU?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(2 April 2004)

The Commission would like to reaffirm the importance it attaches to maintaining linguistic and cultural
diversity. The information society can reinforce diversity and allow a wide range of services to be offered
in local languages and meeting specific local needs. The eEurope 2005 Action Plan aims to promote the
development of services applications and content and the Commission believes that this will make a major
contribution to ensuring that European culture at all levels can flourish.

The question refers to the ongoing discussions on the implementation of eEurope. This is the mid-term
review which was planned to ensure that the action plan, agreed by 15 Member States at the Seville
European Council (21/22 June 2002) is appropriate for an enlarged EU of 25 members. The Commission
undertook a survey of Member States and Acceding Countries at the end of 2003 and the general response
was that eEurope is a valuable programme and its objectives do not need to be adjusted. This represents a
vote of confidence from across Europe in the strategy and objectives of eEurope which include linguistic
and cultural diversity and ensuring an information society for all, including urban, rural and peripheral
areas.

C 84 E/876

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.4.2004

eEurope is an umbrella covering a wide range of actions and programmes and one of the most important
in relation to diversity is the eContent programme. This programme supports the increased availability, use
and distribution of European digital content. It aims at improving access for all to high-quality digital
content on the global networks, in a multiplicity of languages. A work programme for the years 2003 and
2004 was adopted by the Commission on 19 December 2002 with an expected budget of EUR 26,5 million
in 2004.

The Commission has also proposed a new programme, eContentplus (2005-2008) which will support the
development of multi-lingual content for innovative, on-line services across the EU. The new programme
focuses on three areas: geographical data, educational material and cultural content, and aims at seeking to
support the combination of information from different systems (cid:1) irrespective of format,
language or
location.

As regards the question on ensuring the benefits of technology to all areas, the Commission has taken
steps to allocate resources to areas potentially missed out. The eEurope 2005 Action Plan indicates the
need for Europe to have widespread availability of broadband access at competitive prices. Although
investment in broadband will mainly come from the private sector, the Action Plan proposes to support
deployment in less favoured areas. To this end, the Commission published a Staff Working Paper giving
‘Guidelines on the criteria and modalities of the use of structural funds in electronic communications’ (1).
The purpose of
these guidelines is to help Member States and regions prepare their electronic
communications infrastructure projects (including broadband) for presentation for European Regional
Development Fund (ERDF) support.

(1) SEC(2003) 895.

(2004/C 84 E/0970)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0771/04

by Caroline Lucas (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

Subject: La Breña II dam (cid:1) compensation measures

(5 March 2004)

The Commission’s decision, in December 2003, to co-finance with EUR 80 million the La Breña dam, part
of the Spanish National Hydrological Plan,
included a set of compensation measures agreed with the
Spanish authorities. These are presumably meant to reduce the negative impacts of the project.

Will the Commission provide a list of these compensation measures? Since the new dam will create a
reservoir four times the current size in the middle of a Natura 2000 area, how does the Commission
consider it possible to compensate for the destruction of more than 2000 ha of high quality habitat? How
has the Commission calculated the value of this habitat, which provides the connection between the two
last Iberian lynx populations in Spain?

How will the favourable conservation status of a priority species (the Iberian lynx), included in Annexes II
and IV of the Habitats Directive, be guaranteed in this project?

Finally, how does the Commission intend to monitor the application of these compensation measures?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(6 April 2004)

The Commission refers to the reply it gave to the Honourable Member’s oral question H-120/04 raised
during question time at Parliament’s March I session (1), and provides the following complementary
information.