WRITTEN QUESTION No. 463/98 by Allan MACARTNEY to the Commission. Administration costs of the Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowance
17. 7. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 223/175 Answer given by Mr Bangemann on behalf of the Commission (24 March 1998) 1. The choice of a technology is an internal strategic decision of an enterprise, based on a number of elements which include actual and potential demand for the services to be supported by the technology in question, the undertakingís financial capacity and the expected rate of return over investment. Telecom Italiaís decision to replace only partially the existing copper wires by optical fibres for the city of Rome and, instead, to use ADSL technology with a view to improving the transmission capacity of the existing wires, has to be considered in this context. As to the advertising campaign, the Commission does not have enough factual elements to assess whether Directive 84/450/EEC has been infringed. The Commission will, however, consider requesting further information from Telecom Italia to finalise its assessment. 2. The Commission is aware that, since the regulatory framework currently in place in Italy has been completed only recently, Telecom Italiaís campaign should be monitored with particular attention so as to ascertain any potential pre-emptive effect on competition in the infrastructure market. In case of complaints such investment announcement could be examined both by the national competition and telecoms regulatory authorities and the Commission and could lead to formal decisions, if it would be established that they pre-empt competition. (98/C 223/228) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0463/98 by Allan Macartney (ARE) to the Commission (27 February 1998) Subject: Administration costs of the Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowance What level of administration fees do respective Member States charge for handling applications for the Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowance, and can these be indicated for the most up-to-date figures available? Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (17 March 1998) The Commission does not have this type of information on the administrative costs of managing the compensatory allowance scheme for farmers in less-favoured areas. Such information is not contained in the legislative provisions notified by the Member States and approved by the Commission. The Commission is therefore unable to provide the data requested by the Honourable Member. In this context, it should be stressed that administrative costs are not eligible for part-financing by the Community. (98/C 223/229) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0493/98 by Nikitas Kaklamanis (UPE) to the Commission (2 March 1998) Subject: Impact on countries outside the euro zone In May 1998, the decision will be taken on which countries will be included in the áeuro zoneí. There are a great many questions in the minds of the public regarding the implications for the countries which will not be taking part from the outset in this ázoneí, which may be summarized as follows: 1. What will be the impact on the currencies of the countries not participating immediately in the áeuro zoneí? 2. How will interest rates be affected within those countries? 3. Will it be compulsory for those countriesí currencies to enter the new Exchange Rate Mechanism? 4. What will be the impact on their small and medium-sized businesses?