WRITTEN QUESTION E-2332/99 by Alejandro Cercas (PSE) to the Commission. Innovative actions increasing transactional business by European SMEs accessing third markets (call for proposals 98/C 219/13).
C 225 E/104 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 8. 8. 2000 (2000/C 225 E/105) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2332/99 by Alejandro Cercas (PSE) to the Commission (13 December 1999) Subject: Innovative actions increasing transactional business by European SMEs accessing third markets (call for proposals 98/C 219/13) Would the Commission provide the following information on the above topic (1): ü total number of projects subsidised in 1998 and 1999, ü identity of the beneficiaries, ü amount of funding made available, ü the European participants in the consortia, ü the third countries involved, ü date of the next call for proposals. (1) OJ C 219, 15. 7. 1998, p. 23. Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission (12 January 2000) Following the call for proposals (98/C 219/13), the Commission awarded subsidies to four proposals namely the proposal by EIC-CRCI Orleans (FR) regarding a Firmenpool action France-Israel (subsidy of € 80 000), the proposal by Excal (Spain) regarding a Firmenpool action Spain-Mexico/Argentina (subsidy of € 75 909), the proposal by Lisburn Enterprise (United Kingdom) regarding a Compagnonnage action N. Ireland/United States (subsidy of € 80 000), and the proposal by MLIP (Germany) regarding a Firmenpool action Germany/United Kingdom and United States (subsidy of € 80 000). The call for proposals did not request proponents to set up consortia. Nevertheless MLIP has associated to the development of its action Business Link from Thames Valley, Greater Nottingham and Isle of Wight (United Kingdom), three German Chambers of Commerce (Magdeburg, Leipzig, Dresden) and AFG Mecklenburg. Due to the experimental nature of the programme Innovative actionsí, the Commission will take a decision on the possible launch of a new call for proposals after the results of these four projects have been evaluated. (2000/C 225 E/106) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2333/99 by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission (13 December 1999) Subject: Measures for the benefit of disabled people who practise sport and use IT networks In view of the fact that the process of European unification and cooperation must not exclude any social group, such as the disabled, that there are 37 million disabled people in the European Union, according to figures supplied by the European Disability Forum, and that recreational sport and IT networks such as the Internet offer the disabled great opportunities to socialise and communicate, can the Commission say what initiatives to promote the practice of sport and the use of IT networks it has organised to date to enable disabled people to communicate and socialise? What initiatives is the Commission considering promoting in the next few years?