WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3356/97 by Gunilla CARLSSON to the Commission. Energy policy switch in Sweden
C 134/144 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 30. 4. 98 (98/C 134/193) WRITTEN QUESTION P-3354/97 by Bertel Haarder (ELDR) to the Commission (15 October 1997) Subject: Structural aid for Central and Eastern Europe under Agenda 2000 The Commission has given repeated assurances that countries other than Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Estonia also have an opportunity to be included in the first round if they develop rapidly and move closer to the requirements laid down for EU members. This was said, for example, by Commission President Jacques Santer in answer to my question at Parliamentís July part-session in Strasbourg. This being so, it is strange that the Commission should be proposing to grant ECU 38 billion of structural aid to the above five countries, while only ECU 7 billion is to be given to the countries that must wait outside in the first round. Such an allocation of funding serves only to confirm the suspicion that the countries are divided up into those that have and that shall be given more and those that have not and that shall be given less. This St Matthewí principle is both unfortunate and unreasonable and will send the wrong signals to those countries that have most need of being kept on track for democracy and the market economy. Does the Commission consider this allocation to be appropriate, is it contemplating altering it and will it itself be forwarding amended proposals to Parliament? Answer given by Mr Van den Broek on behalf of the Commission (11 November 1997) The Commission has always maintained that enlargement is a comprehensive process embracing all applicant countries and that it includes the opening of accession negotiations with those countries according to the progress made by each of them in terms of compliance with the criteria for accession laid down by the Copenhagen European Council. In the reports which it has undertaken to prepare annually, the first being due at end-1998, the Commission will recommend that the Council should open negotiations with every country which the Commission believes meets those criteria. With regard to the amount of funding, the Commission does not share the Honourable Member’s view, in that total preaccession aid under Agenda 2000 (1) is ECU 21 000 million, which on an annual-average basis is twice the level expected in 1999. In addition, preaccession aid for those countries which must still wait outside › in the terms used by the Honourable Member › would appear to be quite substantial: as a percentage of their gross domestic product it easily bears comparison with that for the other applicant countries. (1) Doc. COM (97) 2000 final. (98/C 134/194) WRITTEN QUESTION P-3356/97 by Gunilla Carlsson (PPE) to the Commission (16 October 1997) Subject: Energy policy switch in Sweden In June 1997, the Swedish Riksdag took a decision on Swedenís energy policy, entailing changes to the countryís energy supply system. The Swedish government has stated in this connection that Swedenís electricity supply is to be based mainly on indigenous production. The Riksdag is soon to consider a draft law which would mean that network licences for new links with other countries could be awarded only by Svenska Kraftna¤t, a wholly