WRITTEN QUESTION No. 763/98 by Alexandros ALAVANOS to the Commission. Abolition of duty-free sales
19. 11. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 354/23 (98/C 354/50) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0747/98 by Allan Macartney (ARE) to the Commission (18 March 1998) Subject: Importance of local government bodies with the framework of structural funds Given the recent changes in the UK structure of programme partnership for the delivery of structural funding support, does the Commission agree that local government is a vital strand in the three-way partnership between the Commission, the Member State and the Region? What steps will the Commission take to ensure that the role of local government bodies will not be diminished as a result of the creation of Programme Executives? Answer given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission (8 April 1998) The Commission agrees that local government is a vital aspect of the regional partnerships with responsibility for implementing Community regional policy programmes in the United Kingdom. The Commission has welcomed recent changes in the composition of monitoring committees in regional policy programmes, and in particular the inclusion of social partners and elected councillors on these committees. Elected councillors are now represented on all monitoring committees in England and Wales. Programme executives have no decision making role in respect of their regional programmes. All decisions must be made by the relevant monitoring committee, as set out in the standard clauses attached to each single programming document. Executives, or secretariats, are needed to implement the decisions of monitoring committees. The Commission will continue to ensure that this division of responsibilities is respected. (98/C 354/51) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0763/98 by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission (18 March 1998) Subject: Abolition of duty-free sales Duty-free sales will be abolished in the EU in 1999. According to the Transport Union Federation, the main consequence of this will be the loss of 140 000 jobs, while the turnover of many small businesses and demand in the internal tourist industry will also be affected. 1. 2. Has the Commission carried out a quantitative study into the implications of abolishing duty-free sales and how does it intend to respond to the loss of such a large number of jobs? Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission (5 May 1998) On the question of an impact study, the Commission would refer the Honourable Member to previous answers given to both written and oral questions, most recently the answer given to written question E-272/98 from Mrs D. Darras (1). The Commission is not prepared to consider a prorogation of intra-Community duty-free sales as this regime generates hidden, adverse side effects on other means of transport which cannot offer duty-free sales and on retailers whose sales are taxed. It is however willing to consider what transparent, clear instruments might be put in place to offset certain specific, adverse consequences in terms of employment, should they materialise. (1) OJ C 304, 2. 10. 1998, p. 67