WRITTEN QUESTION No. 173/98 by Mary BANOTTI to the Council. Children with learning difficulties
C 223/132 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 17. 7. 98 The cities mentioned by the Honourable Member are eligible under Objective 2. The eligibility criteria described above thus apply to the light rail projects proposed by the Basque government. By way of information, measure 4. 2 of the Objective 2 programme (1997-99) for the Basque country includes part-funding for line II of the Bilbao underground railway. The ERDF will contribute ECU 29. 45 million out of an eligible total of ECU 98. 16 million. (98/C 223/169) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0172/98 by Markus Ferber (PPE) to the Commission (2 February 1998) Subject: Council decision on the amended proposal for a directive on the approximation of the legal and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning the advertising of tobacco products Is it correct that under the market organization in tobacco in recent years Greece has repeatedly received 1. more than its due in tobacco subsidies? 2. Is it correct that, as a result, Greece now owes as much as ECU 200 million in reimbursements? 3. Is it correct that, in connection with the proposed directive on the approximation of the legal and administrative provisions of the Member States with regard to the advertising of tobacco products, there are now plans to waive either a large proportion or the full amount of Greeceís debt? Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (6 March 1998) 1. The Commission can inform the Honourable Member that since the 1992 reform of the market organisation in tobacco, Greece has only received those premiums it has been entitled to under Council Regulation (EC) No 1420/97 of 22 July 1997 fixing, for the 1997 harvest, the premiums for leaf tobacco by group of tobacco varieties (1), which have remained unchanged since 1995. 2. In recent years, Greece has been subject to financial corrections of ECU 82 million owing to irregular exports to Albania and Bulgaria between 1986 and 1991. These sums have been paid in full. No other financial corrections have been applied to Greece in the tobacco sector, and nor have any measures been adopted to recover undue payments as checks carried out so far have shown that Greece has complied with the substance of the rules adopted subsequent to the reform of the market organisation in tobacco. No. There is no connection between Council discussions on the proposed directive on the advertising of 3. tobacco products (2) and the common organisation of the market in tobacco. (1) OJ L 196, 24. 7. 1997. (2) OJ C 129, 21. 5. 1992. (98/C 223/170) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0173/98 by Mary Banotti (PPE) to the Council (6 February 1998) Subject: Children with learning difficulties Could the Council please state why the UK Presidency has made no reference in its programme to providing for the needs of children with specific learning disabilities when the UK Presidency is focussed on a Peopleís Europeí. Surely the child is at the very basis of a Peopleís Europeí?