WRITTEN QUESTION No. 442/98 by Ian PAISLEY to the Commission. Aid to farmers
21. 10. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 323/37 Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission (14 April 1998) The Commission believes that the Community rules relating to groundhandling services and, consequently the national regulations implementing Directive No 96/67/EC, do not apply to the services to which a reference is made, if they are provided by the air traffic authority. However, it is necessary for national regulations to reflect the provisions of the Directive by including a reference to these specific services, not only for application in case of a change in the provider, but also to allow the users a right of appeal if they are not convinced of the identity of the supplier. In compliance with Article 23 of the Directive, the Commission is informed of the provisions of national law which are adopted by Member States in the field covered by the Directive and therefore has the possibility to guarantee uniform implementation of Community rules if necessary by using the procedure foreseen under Article 169 of the EC Treaty. However, the prime responsability for ensuring the application of those rules, once implemented at national level, is with Member States. (98/C 323/46) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0423/98 by Graham Watson (ELDR) to the Commission (24 February 1998) Subject: The Millenium Bug What work has been done to ensure that the European Central Bank will be millenium bug compliant? Supplementary answer given by Mr de Silguy on behalf of the Commission (8 May 1998) According to information received from the European monetary institute (EMI) (as the pre-cursor to the European central bank (ECB)), this institute is building the systems that will be used by the ECB. In that it is a new institution with very few legacy systems, which are the main cause for concern with regard to year 2000 compliance, the EMI is in a different position to that of the majority of financial institutions across Europe. Nonetheless, the EMI has taken the potential problem of year 2000 compliance extremely seriously. To this end it has started a project encompassing five major phases; inventorising current systems and applications, analysis of level of current compliance, installation of fixes etc leading to certification of year 2000 compliance, testing on an individual and integrated system basis, and monitoring of the situation to ensure continued compliance. The completion of this project will result in the assurance that both the internal systems of the future ECB, and the systems to facilitate communications within the European system of central banks (ESCB), are compliant with the requirement of year 2000. The EMIís year 2000 compliance project is progressing on schedule. Given the systematic approach taken, and the continuing work on the compliance issues, the future ECB will be fully ámillenium compliantí by the required date. (98/C 323/47) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0442/98 by Ian Paisley (NI) to the Commission (27 February 1998) Subject: Aid to farmers Can the Commission give details of the amount of European grant aid given to farmers in the Irish Republic to help them diversify from traditional farming methods into greyhound breeding?