WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1822/98 by Stanislaw TILLICH to the Commission. Offsetting the UK's share of costs from the BSE crisis against the -British rebate'
C 50/98 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 22. 2. 1999 (1999/C 50/141) WRITTEN QUESTION P-1820/98 by Marie-Paule Kestelijn-Sierens (ELDR) to the Commission Subject: Access to European databases via gateways (3 June 1998) Did the Commission perform a cost-benefit analysis before deciding that access to the databases should no longer be provided via gateways but that they should be accessible free of charge via the Internet? Does it have any indication of the type (members of the public/professional people) and number of users of the databases accessing them via the Internet? Is it sure that the information currently available via the Internet is updated quickly enough to meet the needs of professional people and that adequate assistance is available to them? Have the gateways now become totally superfluous? Answer given by Mr Oreja on behalf of the Commission (8 July 1998) The Honourable Member has rightly noted the trend within the Commission towards providing free access to Community databases, particularly over the Internet, where this can ensure a wide and effective promotion of Community policies. There is very limited customer information available on users of databases on the Internet and no detailed study has been carried out yet. The change from a gateway service to an Internet service does not alter the speed of updating information. The future of gateways is not yet certain; but it is expected that there will still be a market for value-added services. (1999/C 50/142) WRITTEN QUESTION P-1822/98 by Stanislaw Tillich (PPE) to the Commission (3 June 1998) Subject: Offsetting the UKís share of costs from the BSE crisis against the British rebateí Can the Commission say whether, and if so how, it has offset the costs charged to the UK as a result of the BSE crisis against (or deducted them from) the British rebateí, which is being renegotiated at present? How large were the sums involved in 1997 and 1998? Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission (30 June 1998) As can be seen from the table sent direct to the Honourable Member and the Secretariat of Parliament (extract of working document for preliminary draft budget for 1999), the cost of the measures occasioned by this crisis can be put at some ECU 4 300 million for the period 1996-99, of which 1 300 million relates to 1997 and 800 million to 1998. For that period, the costs (whether paid or to be paid) attributable to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the United Kingdom can be assessed at around ECU 1 800 million including approximately 450 million in 1996, 550 million in 1997 and 400 million in 1998 and 1999. There is an established definition on the expenditure taken into consideration in the determination of the British rebate. This definition is provided in a document approved unanimously by the Council and known as ámode de calculí. BSE expenditure, like all other agricultural expenditure, is included in the calculation of the British rebate. In 1997 ECU 550 million was allocated to the United Kingdom in relation to the BSE crisis. Consequently, this has reduced the imbalance on which the British rebate is calculated by this amount, and the rebate itself by approximately ECU 320 million. However, BSE expenditure is undertaken in other Member States and this affects the total volume of expenditure on which the British rebate is based as well as the British share in it. The aggregate BSE expenditure in 1997 amounted to ECU 1 303 million, of which ECU 753 million was spent in Member States other than the United Kingdom. Since the United Kingdom receives none of the ECU 753 million expenditure, this causes an increase