WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1280/97 by Daniela RASCHHOFER to the Commission. 'Letter to Farmers' in the 1996 annual report of the Commission's representation in Austria
C 60/16 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 25. 2. 98 Provided that Community citizens are in all cases entitled to be issued with a residence permit which complies with the requirements laid down by Community legislation, it is admissible for national law to provide for the existence of other types of residence permit issued on the basis of national law and conferring additional advantages in return for compliance with additional requirements. (1) In Community legislation, this requirement exists only with reference to workers’ families-see Article10(3) of Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68 (OJ L 257, 19. 10. 1968). (98/C 60/34) WRITTEN QUESTION P-1260/97 by Quin ·dio Correia (PSE) to the Commission (2 April 1997) Subject: Late payment of subsidies to banana producers in Madeira There have recently been reports of lengthy delays in the payment of Community subsidies to banana producers of the Autonomous Region of Madeira. › Can the Commission confirm that these delays have occurred? › On what date were the monies transferred by the Commission to enable these subsidies to be paid and what were the amounts in question? Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (21 April 1997) Under the common organization of the market in bananas, aid is granted to organizations of Community producers to offset loss of income. Compensatory aid for a given year is calculated in the first months of the following year, once the annual marketing data is available and has been verified. There is a problem with certain data for 1996 and additional checks are needed. This is why the balance could not be paid by the deadline of 31 March. However, the delay in payment can hardly be considered that great at this stage. Moreover, it should be remembered that producersí organizations received advances on the compensatory aid during 1996. In view of the outstanding problems, the Commission is unable to specify either the final amount of aid or the exact date on which it will be fixed. However, some indication of the time scale involved can be given. The draft Regulation fixing the amount of compensatory aid for 1996 should be submitted to the Management Committee for Bananas in mid-April. (98/C 60/35) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1280/97 by Daniela Raschhofer (NI) to the Commission (11 April 1997) Subject: Letter to Farmersí in the 1996 annual report of the Commissionís representation in Austria The EU Letter to Farmersí issued every month by the Commissionís representation in Austria is a four-page supplement to the Austrian Farmersí Associationís magazine áidkí, and contains background information relating to agriculture and up-to-date information on the CAP with particular reference to Austria. This supplement which appeared eleven times in the year in question was sent to 3 700 Austrian farmers or farmersí representatives. Will the Commission say: whether it is acceptable that the Commissionís representation in Austria should distribute its information in 1. the form of a supplement to publications of political parties, as is the case with the Letter to Farmersí? 2. How much this Commission supplement ( Letter to Farmersí) costs?