WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3052/97 by Amedeo AMADEO to the Commission. Green paper on public procurement
C 134/64 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 30. 4. 98 Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission (31 October 1997) The Commission believes that relief from past debt to create sound finances is an essential part of any strategy to revitalise the Communityís railways. Directive 91/440/EEC on the development of the Communityís railways already obliges Member States to help reduce debts to a level that does not impede sound financial management. The Commission has launched a study of progress made in reducing debts and will present the results in a general communication on the implementation and results of Directive 91/440/EEC, that it intends to present to the Council and the Parliament early next year. (98/C 134/80) WRITTEN QUESTION E-3050/97 by Amedeo Amadeo (NI) to the Commission (2 October 1997) Subject: Green Paper on commerce With reference to the green paper on commerce (COM(96) 530 final), will the Commission set up a statistical observatory on commerce to collect, process and publicize: 1. 2. information on supply and demand (market share per distribution channel, price levels, volume levels, etc. ); information by commercial sector and by region? Answer given by Mr Papoutsis on behalf of the Commission (7 November 1997) As stressed in the Green Paper on commerce, improving the statistics on commerce is one of the Commission’s concerns. Macroeconomic statistics must be able to meet the needs of decision-makers in the sector, who require reliable, homogeneous and constantly updated information on developments. The Commission has therefore planned a number of measures to this end which will lead to a series of publications. At the regular meetings of Eurostat’s Working Party on Statistics on Commerce, the Commission is working on implementing Council Regulation (EEC) No 58/97 of 20 December 1996 on structural business statistics (1), which contains an annex devoted to commerce and distribution. When presenting this Regulation to operators in the sector, the Commission proposed that a conference be held on statistics on commerce. This event, aimed at presenting and reporting on the latest figures available and at allowing those concerned to express their views, should take place during the first quarter of 1998. A conference of this kind could be repeated on an annual basis. In view of the work outlined above, there are currently no plans to set up an observatory. (1) OJ L 14, 17. 1. 1997. (98/C 134/81) WRITTEN QUESTION E-3052/97 by Amedeo Amadeo (NI) to the Commission (2 October 1997) Subject: Green paper on public procurement The Commission has published a Green Paper on public procurement in the European Union: Exploring the way forward (COM(96) 583 final). Will the Commission ensure that, in awarding public contracts, contracting