WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1016/98 by Ulf HOLM to the Commission. Recipients of support under the sugar regime
19. 11. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 354/51 Answer given by Mrs Gradin on behalf of the Commission (17 June 1998) The Commission shares the Honourable Memberís concern about free movement of foreign children legally resident or temporarily in the Community. In this respect, Article 2 of the Schengen Agreement provides that internal borders may be crossed at any point without any checks being carried out. Action has been also taken for instance to facilitate the free movement of school children from third countries travelling within the Community. Three directives (1) proposed by the Commission on 24 August 1995 which seek to improve free movement within the Community also touch upon free movement of third country nationals legally resident in the Community. The United Nations Convention on the rights of the child adopted in 1989, which provides a common framework of commitment to childrenís rights to be developed by the Member States in their national legal systems, and the Hague Convention of 1993, which deals with the setting up of a cooperation mechanism for taking care throughout the adoption procedure that the higher interest of a child is safeguarded, do not contain specific provisions on movement of foster children travelling within the Community. The proposal for a convention on the right to family life drawn up by the European coordination for the right of foreign nationals to family life, as currently drafted, focuses on family reunion and does not address specifically the issue of foster children. (1) OJ C 306, 17. 11. 1995, OJ C 289, 31. 10. 1995 and OJ C 307, 18. 11. 1995. (98/C 354/91) WRITTEN QUESTION P-1016/98 by Ulf Holm (V) to the Commission (26 March 1998) Subject: Recipients of support under the sugar regime Which companies are the five biggest net recipients of Community support for imports, exports and the storage of sugar in Sweden, Germany and the UK respectively? What percentage of the total amount of the aforementioned types of support do they account for in each of those countries? Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (21 April 1998) The Communityís revenue and expenditure resulting from the application of the common organization of the markets in the sugar sector are recorded in the general budget of the Community. From this document, and from the annual financial reports of the European agricultural guidance and guarantee fund: guarantee section, it is possible to obtain an accounting breakdown to the level of each Member State. The Commission does not possess the information needed to provide a more detailed breakdown to the level of individual undertakings. Such detailed accounting is not needed for the sound management of the Communityís sugar sector and it is clear that the costs of establishing and maintaining the necessary centralized data base would be prohibitive in relation to any benefits that might accrue. The Commission is accordingly unable to provide the detailed analyses requested by the Honourable Member