WRITTEN QUESTION E-1955/99 by Gerhard Hager (NI) to the Commission. Kosovo ‐ Agenda 2000.
3. 10. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 280 E/3 The results were as follows: 224 projects were in order or had minor problems which will be corrected by the contractors (first category projects), 272 projects suffered from major shortcomings without safety implications but which will involve higher maintenance costs: these additional expenses will be deducted from the payments to the contractors concerned (second category projects), 19 of the projects checked had serious defects which could not be corrected: they will have to be rebuilt by the contractors at their own expense (third category projects). The Commission considers that there has already been an improvement in the quality of work. It is nevertheless convinced that, in the long term, the work of ESPEL will result in improvements in the situation. is too early to be able to say that it Following the various ESPEL reports, the Greek authorities took the following measures. As it had promised, the national Ministry for Economic Affairs (MEN) sent the public services managing the projects all the individual ESPEL reports showing quality defects and asked them to take the action provided for by the law. MEN also reported the second and third category projects mentioned above to the public works inspectorate for it to check on the action taken by the managing departments, with particular regard to implementation of the various measures provided for by law, including financial penalties. In the case of the projects in the third category, MEN also automatically sent the file to the public prosecutor. The Commission does not at present have concrete information regarding the various results. Nevertheless, the Greek authorities have told it that, in several cases, defects have already been corrected or the payments for the work in question reduced. Moreover, the checks carried out by the inspectorate mean that the files on the civil engineering firms which do not comply with the procedure can be updated. The Commission will ensure that the Greek authorities notify it formally of the irregularities arising from this situation under Regulation (EC) 1681/94 concerning irregularities and the recovery of sums wrongly paid in connection with the financing of the structural policies and the organisation of an information system in this field (1). The Commission intends to ask the Greek authorities to monitor this matter and its budgetary consequences carefully. (1) OJ L 178, 12. 7. 1994. (2000/C 280 E/003) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1955/99 by Gerhard Hager (NI) to the Commission (5 November 1999) Subject: Kosovo ü Agenda 2000 As part of the reconstruction effort in Kosovo, the EU has provided financial assistance running into billions. The same is true for the reconstruction following the devastating earthquake in Turkey. These measures were decided on after the adoption of Agenda 2000. In view of this, can the Commission answer the following: How much will the EU and/or their Member States invest in the reconstruction of Kosovo and what 1. is the duration of the aid programmes? 2. What is the effect of these measures likely to be on the future budgets of the EU? 3. Does the Commission consider that the plans for financing the Agenda 2000 need to be reviewed? If not, how does the Commission explain the fact that financial assistance will have no effect on the 4. plans for financing Agenda 2000? C 280 E/4 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 3. 10. 2000 Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission (28 January 2000) The budgetary authority agreed to allocate € 137 million in the budgetary year 1999 out of budget 1. chapter B7-54 for reconstruction projects in Kosovo. The Commission has made efforts to implement this. The amounts do not include other Commission funding related to the Kosovo crisis, like humanitarian aid provided by the European Community humanitarian office (ECHO) (€ 378 million in 1999) or the exceptional € 100 million budgetary support offered in 1999 out of budget chapter B7-54 to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Montenegro and out of budget chapter B7-50 to Albania in order to enable these countries to cope with the additional burden on their budget caused by the massive influx of refugees from Kosovo. Additional macro-financial assistance was also granted to FYROM and Bosnia and Herzegovina whose economies suffered from the crisis in the region. The Commission in November 1999 announced that it would propose a major assistance and recovery programme for the Western Balkans, including Kosovo, for the years 2000 to 2006. It suggested a total of € 5 500 million, but the detailed assessment of needs is to be completed in the spring 2000 for consideration in the 2001 budget procedure and will be available in time for the presentation of the new programme. The volume of assistance the Member States pledged for the reconstruction of Kosovo is set out in the tables that were drawn up after the Kosovo donors conferences of July and November 1999, and is available to be consulted on the internet site for South East Europe reconstruction jointly managed by the Commission and the World Bank (http://www. seerecon. org/Calendar/pledgeeuro. pdf and http://www. seer- econ. org/Calendar/SDC/sdc-pledges-euro. pdf). 2. to 4. € 500 million was initially foreseen by the Commission for Kosovo reconstruction in 2000 in mid-year 1999, some € 440 million more than foreseen in the Commissionís preliminary draft budget of April 1999. The final assessment of needs was to be made for 2000 during the budgetary procedure. The Commission presented its views on the impact of the Kosovo financing on the budget through the proposal of letter of amendment No 4/2000, at the end of October 1999. The Commission proposed to react in at least two stages: first covering the 2000 budget only, and later, during the preparation of the 2001 preliminary draft budget, and once exact assessments of the needs and the funding by other donors was known, the period covered by Agenda 2000. A more co-operative economic development programme will gradually replace the urgent reconstruction. for the rest of The Commission proposed a combination of three funding sources for the extra finance needed: redeployment in so far as feasible, partial use of the flexibility instrument and a revision of the financial perspective. The budgetary authority agreed € 240 million for direct aid to Kosovo reconstruction in December 1999, with further funding from humanitarian aid and from carry-overs to bring the total available for Kosovo in 2000 to € 360 million. It decided to call fully on the flexibility reserve and to re- deploy funding within heading 4 to achieve this. (2000/C 280 E/004) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2014/99 by Maria Martens (PPE-DE) to the Commission (9 November 1999) Subject: Habit-forming substances added to cigarettes by the tobacco industry A report published by three scientific organisations (ASH: Action on Smoking and Health, the Imperial Cancer Research Fund and the Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program) shows that the tobacco industry adds chemical substances to cigarettes to make them more addictive. The report is available on the Internet: http://www. ash. org. uk/papers/additives. html. Is the Commission aware of these findings?