WRITTEN QUESTION E-0611/00 by Raffaele Costa (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Quarterly calculation of bank interest payable by account-holders.
21. 11. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 330 E/191 (2000/C 330 E/219) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0611/00 by Raffaele Costa (PPE-DE) to the Commission (3 March 2000) Subject: Quarterly calculation of bank interest payable by account-holders Does the European Union consider it admissible that up until July 2000, Italy will continue to tolerate (i. e. consider legal) áanatocismsí, i. e. the quarterly calculation of interest payable by account-holders (be they private individuals or companies), while the interest payable by banks is calculated on an annual basis? Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission (7 April 2000) In its reply to Written Question No 0532/00, the Commission pointed out that under Article 4 of the EC Treaty the Communityís economic policy is based on the internal market and is conducted in accordance with the principles of an open market economy with free competition. Only by adhering to this principle is it possible to achieve an optimum allocation of economic resources in the interests of both firms and consumers. In this connection, the Commission observed that, in its view, it was neither possible nor expedient to intervene regarding the interest rates applied by credit institutions. This also applies to methods of calculating interest payable; it is up to each credit institution to offer services to clients in the light of its assessment of the market and the associated risks, and this, of course, in compliance with the rules on competition and transparency in financial transactions. (2000/C 330 E/220) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0613/00 by Jan Mulder (ELDR) to the Commission (3 March 2000) Subject: Vaccination against IBR in the European Union Thousands of Dutch farmers are suffering losses on account of an unknown cattle disease (áslijtersí). It is suspected that IBR (Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis). this disease may be caused by a defective vaccine against 1. Does the Commission have any view about the causes of these phenomena? Are similar losses occurring elsewhere in the Union and if so, what precautions has the Commission 2. taken on this account? Has the Commission instituted a special inquiry or taken any measures with regard to IBR vaccines 3. in order to prevent a recurrence of the problem? Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission (25 April 2000) The Commission has been informed by the Dutch authorities about the disease occurring in dairy cattle farms in the Netherlands. These authorities state that in a number of dairy cattle farms emaciation of milking cows has been reported. Investigations have been carried out to identify the precise causes of this disease. The results of these investigations suggest that in some farms the symptoms appeared after the use of a vaccine against infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR), which was contaminated with bovine viral diarrhea virus. This is a well-known virus of ruminants widespread in most countries in the world, for which there is no evidence