WRITTEN QUESTION No. 849/98 by Marco CELLAI to the Commission. Appeal to the Court of Justice by the Commission
C 310/138 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 9. 10. 98 (98/C 310/187) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0849/98 by Marco Cellai (NI) to the Commission (26 March 1998) Subject: Appeal to the Court of Justice by the Commission According to press reports in December last year the Commission has decided to appeal to the Court of Justice with a view to bringing infringement proceedings against the Italian Government for the alleged absence in Law 236/95 of transitional arrangements to safeguard the acquired rights of language assistants (ácollaboratori linguisticií, formerly known as álettorií) already working in Italian universities in accordance with Presidential Decree 382/80. This move essentially ignored the meaning of the judgment passed by that Court (Section V) of 20 November 1997. The present request to bring proceedings is clearly based on confusion between the terms álecturerí and álettoreí. The Commission in no way indicated how the Italian Government has failed to respect the áacquired rightsí, since the rules introduced in Law 236/95 guarantee the safeguarding of the rights acquired by the parties concerned under the previous legal framework and improve their treatment overall. In view of the above, can the Commission say: whether and to what extent the Commissionís decision was influenced by articles in the press or views 1. expressed by European members of parliament; 2. what the legal bases for the appeal are? Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission (5 June 1998) The Commission is conducting a detailed investigation of the problem raised by the Honourable Member and will inform him of the outcome as soon as possible. (98/C 310/188) WRITTEN QUESTION P-0853/98 by Graham Mather (PPE) to the Commission (11 March 1998) Subject: World Cup ticket allocation (France 98) Repeated allegations have been made in the media and by Members of the European Parliament that the method used to allocate tickets for matches at the World Cup in France this summer is in breach of EU competition rules. The Commission has stated (PE 264. 470) that it has contacted five tour operators and the French organizing committee on this matter and will decide whether EU competition rules have been breached as soon as it receives their replies. Given the considerable public interest in this matter, and given that any possible action by the Commission will have to be taken in the near future in order to be of any benefit to EU citizens, what timescale does the Commission envisage for these procedures, and will a formal public statement be made? Answer given by Mr Van Miert on behalf of the Commission (23 April 1998) Following the response from the French organising committee (CFO) to the Commissionís request for further information in February 1998, the Commission has taken the preliminary view that certain aspects of the CFOís ticket distribution arrangements discriminated against supporters living outside France, and that as such the CFO had abused its dominant position under Article 86 of the EC Treaty