WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3406/97 by Concepció FERRER to the Commission. ERDF innovative measures
25. 5. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 158/103 (98/C 158/134) WRITTEN QUESTION E-3406/97 by Concepcio· Ferrer (PPE) to the Commission (28 October 1997) Subject: ERDF innovative measures The Commission has chosen eight areas for action or cooperation as part of the ERDF innovative measures (Article 10 of the ERDF regulation) for the 1995-99 period. They are: new sources of employment, culture and heritage, promotion of technological innovation, the information society, spatial planning, urban development, internal inter-regional cooperation and external inter-regional cooperation. Will the Commission state, for each of the above areas and for each Member State (or group of Member States in the case of transnational projects) how many projects have been submitted, how many of them have so far been approved and how much money, in ecus, has been granted? How much funding is it planned to allocate to each of the eight areas for the 1995-99 period? Answer given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission (9 December 1997) Tables giving the information requested in respect of six of the eight themes mentioned are being transmitted directly to the Honourable Member and to Parliamentís Secretariat. So far some 133 MECU have been allocated to these six themes from the European regional development fund out of a budget of 190 MECU for the period 1995-1999. Certain projects also benefit from contributions from the European social fund or PHARE. Of the 1 483 projects submitted under the six themes, 161 were approved. Regarding internal interregional cooperation (Recite II, budget 110 MECU) and external interregional cooperation (Ecos-Ouverture, budget 70 MECU), these programmes are yet to be finalised. (98/C 158/135) WRITTEN QUESTION E-3408/97 by Roberta Angelilli (NI) to the Commission (28 October 1997) Subject: Privatization of the central dairy in Rome For some time now the Italian monopolies commission has been investigating Rome city councilís handover of the central dairy to Cirio. After the purchase of the dairy Cirio would acquire almost 70% of the milk market in the Lazio region, an excessive share which might jeopardize free competition in the sector. Furthermore, the existing relationship between Cirio and Parmalat, the two main Italian producers of milk might, in view of their shared interests, upset the market, because they have acquired a dominant position, thereby destroying the competition. All this casts a shadow over the entire sales operation carried out by Rome city council. In view of all this, can the Commission say: 1. whether it knows about the investigations being carried out by the Italian monopolies commission into the privatization of the central dairy of Rome; 2. whether the takeover of the dairy by Cirio may strengthen a dominant position on the market, thereby jeopardizing free competition; 3. whether the entire operation of privatizing the central dairy can therefore be considered lawful? Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (26 November 1997) At the end of 1996 the Commission received a complaint about the grant of public funds for the restructuring of Centrale del Latte di Roma and challenging the conformity of the procedure for the privatisation planned by the municipality of Rome with the Community rules on public contracts