WRITTEN QUESTION No. 4230/97 by Pierluigi CASTAGNETTI to the Commission. Approval of the 1997-1999 Single Planning Document for the Region Friuli Venezia Giulia
22. 6. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 196/105 (98/C 196/146) WRITTEN QUESTION P-4229/97 by Ulf Holm (V) to the Council (15 January 1998) Subject: Treaty of Amsterdam publicity campaign In the autumn, Swedenís Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched a large-scale propaganda campaign costing about SKR 9 million to promote the Treaty of Amsterdam. The material used in the campaign contains many factual errors, however, and the text is mainly devoted to examples of what are referred to as Swedish ásuccessesí on employment, the environment and equal opportunities. Yet the German Foreign Affairs Ministryís publication Der Abschluss der Regierungskonferenz › eine Gesamtwertungí, for instance, does not even mention the issues highlighted in the Swedish campaign. Instead, it sets out in detail the aim of the Treaty of Amsterdam, namely further development of the common foreign and security policy, greater police and judicial cooperation and making the Union more effective by increasing its supranational dimension and curbing Member Statesí rights of veto, so as to make enlargement possible. The differences in the content of the material are so great that readers cannot help wondering if these texts refer to the same Treaty of Amsterdam. Instead of a public debate, we have thus got one-way communication, in which the authorities tell the public how things stand. In view of this, will the Council state: it is possible for information material produced by the governments of two Member States to differ so much? Whether it considers it ethically correct for governments to use their powers and for taxpayersí money to be spent to run ápoliticallyí very biased information campaigns about the EU which also contain factual errors? Answer (30 March 1998) The Honourable Member will kindly note that it is not for the Council to express an opinion on the information supplied by Member States in connection with the Amsterdam Treaty, which is currently subject to ratification by the Member States. Through the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities the General Secretariat of the Council contributed to the publication of the texts of the Treaty of Amsterdam and of the consolidated versions of the Treaties. These publications may be consulted free of charge on the Internet via the General Secretariat of the Councilís website (http://ue. eu. int). The texts are accompanied by descriptive summaries involving the liability of neither the Community institutions nor the Member States. (98/C 196/147) WRITTEN QUESTION P-4230/97 by Pierluigi Castagnetti (PPE) to the Commission (14 January 1998) Subject: Approval of the 1997-1999 Single Planning Document for the Region Friuli Venezia Giulia The Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia submitted to the Commission the Single Planning Document for the period 1997-1999 at the beginning of August. Despite intensive negotiations and assurances that the decision-making process would be rapidly concluded, the Document has still not been approved by the Commission. Can the Commission state the reasons for the delay? Is the Commission aware that the unjustified delay in the adoption of a decision on the subject is causing the regional government obvious difficulties in the execution of the planned measures?