WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2931/97 by Sérgio RIBEIRO to the Commission. Suspension of Portuguese state aid to EPAC, PLC
30. 4. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 134/37 The proposals for Natureí were evaluated by the Commission and the result of this evaluation approved by the Habitats committee which is made up of representatives of the Member States and chaired by the Commission. In total 62 out of the 174 proposals received an Community contribution. In the sector Environmentí 514 proposals were received of which 25 were from the Netherlands, which corresponds to 4. 86% of the total number of proposals received. The 25 Environmentí projects presented by the Netherlands have a total cost of 65. 59 MECU for which a total Community contribution of 14. 17 MECU was requested. The Community contribution requested by the Dutch projects corresponded to 5. 2% of the total Community contribution requested by all proposals. The Netherlands had seven projects selected, which corresponds to 6. 25 % of the total number of selected proposals and 9. 1% of the total 1997 Community contribution for Environmentí. The Environmentí proposals were subject to an evaluation procedure in which representatives of the Member States, a panel of external experts and experts of the Commission apply independently a series of commonly agreed criteria to assess the merit of the proposals. On the basis of the results of this evaluation procedure, and in function of the funding available, 112 of the most meriting European projects were presented for the approval of the LIFE Environmentí management committee which is made up of representatives of the Member States and the Commission. Details on the chosen Dutch projects are sent directly to the Honourable Member and to the Secretariat General of the Parliament. (98/C 134/43) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2931/97 by Se·rgio Ribeiro (GUE/NGL) to the Commission (17 September 1997) Subject: Suspension of Portuguese state aid to EPAC, PLC The Commissionís decision of 30 April to demand that the Portuguese Government suspend its aid to EPAC evinces an inflexible interpretation of Article 93(2) and (3) which, if consistently applied, would put an end to many other situations far more deserving of such an application, such as the recent collateral securities given to the Mello Group and others. It is significant that no reference is made anywhere in the explanation for the decision to the fact that EPACís port installations had been handed over to SILOPOR, as part of the privatization process, without the outstanding debt being included in the handover; EPAC continues to be responsible for the interest on the loans contracted for the construction of the installations. Did the Commission take this fact into account, and if not, should it not do so, if only to avoid contributing to a process of ádecapitalizationí with very serious consequences for workers who bear no responsibility whatever for either the management or the privatization process as carried out? Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (28 October 1997) By Commission Decision of 30 April 1997 (1) the Portuguese Government was asked to suspend the aid in the form of a state guarantee granted to the firm Empresa Para a Agroalimentaça~o e Cereais SA (EPAC). This decision, under the state aid examination procedure provided for by Articles 92 to 94 of the EC Treaty, was a provisional one resulting from the fact that the guarantee was granted before the Commission was able to express an opinion on it, in contravention of Article 93(3) of the Treaty. The Commission, in its Decision of 9 July 1997, adopted a final decision on the measures undertaken by the Portuguese Government in favour of EPAC, these having been deemed illegal and incompatible with the common market. The facts referred to by the Honourable Member and all the information provided by the Portuguese authorities on the links between EPAC and SILOPOR were taken into account in that final decision. (1) OJ L 186, 16. 7. 1997