WRITTEN QUESTION E-1098/00 by Christel Fiebiger (GUE/NGL) to the Council. Electronic database on pigs.
C 89 E/10 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 20. 3. 2001 Hence the following questions: 1. Has a promise been made on behalf of the European Union to provide approximately half of the funds needed for Kosovo, amounting to some € 500 to 700 million? 2. 3. If not, how was it possible for Mrs Schreyer to claim on 9 November 1999 that this was the case? If so: (a) which representatives have made such promises? (b) on what occasion? (c) what sums have been promised? (d) were the representatives authorised to make such promises? (e) were the promises made subject to Parliamentís approval having to be obtained for the sums involved? (1) OJ C 374 E, 28. 12. 2000, p. 2. Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission (15 June 2000) As already indicated in its reply to the Honourable Memberís Written Question P-2280/99 (1), following the conclusions of the European Council of Cologne (June 1999), the Commission estimated between € 500 million and € 700 million per year over three years 2000-2002, the indicative needs for the in Kosovo in the perspective of a medium term reconstruction and recovery reconstruction effort programme. This figure was indicated for the first time in its proposal for the creation of the European agency for reconstruction (2), submitted in the context of a proposal for the modification of the Obnova Regulation (Council Regulation (EC) No 851/98 of 20 April 1998 amending Regulation (EC) No 1628/96 relating to aid for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (3)). The Commissioner responsible for External relations did not make any commitment but expressed the Commissionís willingness actively to support the programme for the reconstruction of Kosovo during the second donorsí conference jointly organised by the Commission and the World Bank in November 1999. On this occasion, the Commission pledged an indicative amount of € 500 million for Community assistance. As this figure was in line with the first reading of the draft 2000 budget and was pledged on condition of its final adoption by the budgetary authorities, the Commission did not consider it necessary to have a mandate in this respect. A global amount of € 360 million for 2000 was finally agreed by the budgetary authorities on to the international donor 16 December 1999. The Commission has now confirmed this amount community as the final figure committed for Kosovo in year 2000. (1) OJ C 374 E, 28. 12. 2000, p. 2. (2) OJ C 21 E, 25. 1. 2000. (3) OJ L 122, 24. 4. 1998. (2001/C 89 E/009) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1098/00 by Christel Fiebiger (GUE/NGL) to the Council (6 April 2000) Subject: Electronic database on pigs The Council has decided to introduce an electronic database on pigs in three stages, concluding on 1 January 2003. 20. 3. 2001 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 89 E/11 The following questions arise in that connection: ü What data will be collected? ü Who will collect the data? ü What are the estimated costs of the database in the final stage of development? ü Who will bear the costs of data collection? ü Will costs be reimbursed if data is collected by pig breeders? ü Who will be given access to the data? Reply (23 October 2000) 1. On 10 April 2000 the European Parliament and the Council adopted Directive 2000/15/EC amending Council Directive 64/432/EEC on animal health problems affecting intra-Community trade in bovine animals and swine, to which the Honourable Member refers. That Directive (1), published in Official Journal L 105 of 3 May 2000 (page 34), follows on from the 2. amended Directive 64/432 which already referred to the creation of electronic databases for bovine animals and swine, in order to make available information on animals and their movements. That Directive included in particular: ü the obligation for those Member States which did not have an approved surveillance network system to provide for an electronic database for swine before 31 December 1999, ü an indication of the data to be gathered, ü an indication of the Commission/Standing Veterinary Committee procedure regarding the treatment of such data. 3. Directive 2000/15/EC does in fact provide for the creation, in three stages, of an electronic database for pigs and lays down the deadlines for the achievement of that objective and the legal framework for the determination of the appropriate implementing arrangements, which are a matter for the Commission. Pending the introduction of those arrangements, it is possible to inform the Honourable Member 4. that: ü the Member States are responsible for collecting data and for the provisions to be implemented in order to comply with the Directive, ü the provisions relating to the first, second and sixth questions will be determined in accordance with the Commission/Standing Veterinary Committee procedure, ü it is difficult to estimate the cost of this measure at this stage, as that will depend on the provisions adopted by individual Member States at national level, ü the arrangements for the defrayal of the costs referred to in the fourth and fifth questions may be examined in the context of the review of certain provisions of Directive 85/73/EEC on the financing of veterinary inspections and controls (2) in accordance with Article 14(8) of Directive 64/432/EEC (3). (1) OJ L 105, 3. 5. 2000, p. 34. (2) OJ L 32, 5. 2. 1985, p. 19. (3) Directive on animal health problems affecting intra-Community trade in bovine animals and swine, as amended by Directive 97/12/EC (OJ L 109, 25. 4. 1997, p. 1)