WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1772/97 by Panayotis LAMBRIAS to the Commission. Cuts in Community funding for Euro Film News
C 45/100 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 10. 2. 98 Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (18 June 1997) The Community has been very active in the field of legislation concerning the welfare of farm animals. A series of directives govern the rearing conditions of battery hens, pigs and calves, the protection of transported animals and the conditions for animals at the time of slaughter. These directives, although primarily oriented towards improvement of welfare standards, do aim also to facilitate this improvement in ways which do not distort the operation of market sectors concerned, notably competition within these sectors. Concerning the progress towards up-grading the minimum Community standards, the Honourable Member is referred to the Commissionís reply to written question no. 3488/96 by Mr Gahrton (1). (1) OJ C 186, 18. 6. 1997, p. 97. (98/C 45/123) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1772/97 by Panayotis Lambrias (PPE) to the Commission (27 May 1997) Subject: Cuts in Community funding for Euro Film News Euro Film News › the only European audiovisual project so far to be managed by Greece › has been a fruitful and successful enterprise since May 1995. It is now threatened with closure owing to cutbacks in Community funding. Will the Commission include it among the activities funded by the MEDIA II programme to ensure the continued presence of representatives of the smaller countries of the Union in the film industry, which is generally regarded as essential? Answer given by Mr Oreja on behalf of the Commission (8 July 1997) Euro Film News is both a newsletter and a bulletin. It has two functions. The first is to gather together articles from newspapers and specialist magazines concerned primarily with the audio-visual industry in countries with a small audio-visual output. The second is to distributing this information to the press, thereby drawing attention to the audio-visual industry in countries with a low output. Euro Film News started as part of the first Media Programme (1991-1995), with funding from the Greek Government and Scale, one of the Programme’s 19 projects. In line with the two Council decisions on Media’s priorities for 1996-2000 (1), the focus of attention was shifted in the second Media Programme to three priority areas: training of professionals and development and distribution of audio-visual and cinema works. As a direct result of this refocusing, all activities organised as part of the nineteen Media schemes, including Scale, were suspended and replaced with new projects. Unfortunately, the new system makes no provision for funding for press publications, even such specialised ones as Euro Film News. (1) Decision 95/563/EC of 10 July 1995 on Media II (development and distribution), and Decision 95/564/EC of 22 December 1995 on Media II (training): OJ L 321, 30. 12. 1995