WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3873/98 by Kirsi PIHA Imports of foodstuffs from Estonia
11. 10. 1999 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 289/101 Under Article 107 of the EC Treaty, the governments of the Member States undertake to respect the independence of the European Central Bank and of the national central banks and not to seek to influence the members of their decision-making bodies in the performance of their tasks. This independence secures the overriding objective of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB): maintaining price stability. The shaping of monetary policy is therefore the sole responsibility of the decision-making bodies of the ESCB which have undertaken that task. How does the Council plan to ensure, in the light of the most recent discussions, that the key Treaty provisions on safeguarding the independence of the ESCB are also respected in the future? Reply (29 March 1999) Article 107 of the Treaty establishing the European Community imposes the obligation on, inter alia, the Community institutions to respect the independence of the European Central Bank (ECB) and of the national central banks. The Council intends to respect that obligation. (1999/C 289/133) WRITTEN QUESTION E-3873/98 by Kirsi Piha (PPE) to the Commission (4 January 1999) Subject: Imports of foodstuffs from Estonia In Estonia, as in the other Baltic countries, the agriculture and foodstuffs sectors have been extremely hard hit by the crisis in Russia. Exports of foodstuffs from those countries have virtually come to a halt, since they have very few outlets outside the countries of the former Soviet Union. How does the Commission plan to investigate the scope for increasing imports of foodstuffs from the Baltic countries into the EU? What support does the foodstuffs sector in the Baltic countries receive and would it be possible to provide support through the existing aid programmes? What have the major obstacles been to the expansion of EU foodstuffs imports from the Baltic countries? Answer given by Mr van den Broek on behalf of the Commission (11 February 1999) The Commission is well aware of the consequences of the crisis in Russia on the international trade in agricultural products. Estonia and other Central European countries, as well as the Community itself are affected. Community assistance through the Phare programme has helped the Central European countries to restructure their economies and increase their competitiveness in Community markets. This combined with the liberalisation of trade under the Europe agreement has resulted in a reorientation of trade towards the Community which has made the Central European countries less vulnerable to the Russian crisis. In Agenda 2000, the Commission proposed that, in addition to Phare, pre-accession aid should be reinforced through the annual provision of an additional 500 million euros for agricultural development, and 1,000 million euros for structural investment. In addition to increased pre-accession assistance, the Commission proposed to the Council to start negotiations with the associated countries from Central Europe, with a view to granting additional reciprocal concessions for trade in agricultural and processed agricultural products