WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3852/98 by Jannis SAKELLARIOU Financial endowment of BISTRO - beneficiaries of TACIS-LIEN
C 320/82 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 6. 11. 1999 from the Member States, this review process is now complete. The Commission’s work programme for 1999 envisages that a consolidated text updating and revising existing directives on labelling of tobacco products and maximum tar yields for cigarettes, in the light of experience with their current provisions, will be proposed in the first half of the 1999. (1) COM(96) 609 final. (2) OJ L 213, 30. 7. 1998. (3) OJ L 359, 8. 12. 1989. (4) OJ L 137, 30. 5. 1990. (1999/C 320/109) WRITTEN QUESTION E-3852/98 by Jannis Sakellariou (PSE) to the Commission (4 January 1999) Subject: Financial endowment of BISTRO 3 beneficiaries of TACIS-LIEN Can the Commission provide any information on the financial endowment of the BISTRO programme 1. for 1998 and 1999? In particular, what amount of the resources has not yet been committed? Can the Commission say how many applicants there have been in all for assistance from BISTRO in 2. 1998? What is the average amount of assistance provided per application? 3. How are approved applications shared among counterparts and NGOs in the various Member States? 4. May applications be made for assistance for projects with partners in Kazakhstan under the TACIS-LIEN programme? 5. If not, how does the Commission explain that members of its delegation in Kazakhstan recommend German applicants to apply for assistance for projects with partners in Kazakhstan under the TACIS-LIEN programme, although the relevant guidelines on the TACIS-LIEN programme specify that Kazakhstan is not endowed with a LIEN discretionary budget and that any application is therefore bound to fail? Answer given by Mr van den Broek on behalf of the Commission (4 February 1999) In the 1996-1997 action programme the Kazakstan Bistro budget amounted to ECU 1 million. Half of 1. the ECU 1 million of the 1996/1997 budget is still available. The next action programme is still under negotiation. Hence, no budget figure can be given yet. The Bistro programme is managed by the delegation of the Commission in Alma Aty which so far has 2. received 34 applications. Nine of them have been approved. The average budget of a Bistro project is €44 000. 3. From the nine approved projects three have been concluded with Kazakh institutions. The remaining six projects have been concluded with four Member States: (Germany 2; France 1; Netherlands 1 and United Kingdom 2). 4. Yes, projects with Kazakh partners could be requested. 5. The delegation of the Commission in Alma Aty has the role to provide information on the spot on how to obtain TACIS support about all the available facilities. There are two on-going LIEN projects in Kazakstan which were financed under the 1997 programme