WRITTEN QUESTION E-1967/99 by Anna Karamanou (PSE) to the Commission. Restructuring of Commission departments.
18. 7. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 203 E/97 Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission (30 November 1999) The funds blocked in 1996 amounted to € 9 396 867 and DM 14 750 The amounts recovered were € 9 385 673,55 and DM 15 367,07. The criteria to open bank accounts in Bulgaria changed in March 1996. After an evaluation of the banking situation it was decided that the PHARE funds should be held in well-capitalised banks having a strong back up from their shareholders. The banks that, in the Commissionís opinion, fulfilled these requirements were the ING Bulgaria, the Bulbank, the Raiffeissen and the Dresdner bank. These are the banks with which the Commission has operated since then. From 1998 on the Commission redefined the criteria used in order to select the banks where the PHARE funds can be held. In this context, the PHARE funds related to programmes approved in 1998 and onwards must be held at the central bank or in a government guaranteed bank account. The Commission has no knowledge of further cases of a banking crisis affecting Commission funds. (2000/C 203 E/123) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1967/99 by Anna Karamanou (PSE) to the Commission (5 November 1999) Subject: Restructuring of Commission departments As the restructuring of Directorate-General X is justifiably giving cause for concern and raising question marks about the fate and future of the information for women unit of former DG X, will the Commission say whether that unit will be transferred to the Directorate-General for Employment, as originally planned? Can the Commission also provide details about the progress and development of the campaign for combating domestic violence? Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission (4 January 2000) The Commission would refer the Honourable Member to the reply it gave to Oral Question H-726/99 by Mrs Valenciano Martínez-Orozco during question time at Parliamentís December 1999 part-session (1). (1) Debates of the European Parliament (December 1999). (2000/C 203 E/124) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1969/99 by Piia-Noora Kauppi (PPE-DE) to the Commission (5 November 1999) Subject: Co-incineration of waste In its proposal for a Council directive on the incineration of waste (COM(98) 558) (1), the Commission proposes that the same requirements be imposed on fuel from combustible municipal waste sorted at the place of origin which is co-incinerated at local district heating plants as on fuels from waste incineration plants. In Finnish conditions, for example, this would mean in practice a sharp drop in the number of waste incineration plants and the concentration of waste incineration into large units. As a consequence, emissions from transport alone would increase considerably in the Nordic countries, where distances are