WRITTEN QUESTION E-0127/00 by Antonio Tajani (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Exclusion of the Italian Council for the Disabled ‐ Relations with the European Union from the Italian representation on the European Disability Forum.
8. 8. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 225 E/221 The Commission would like to stress that it decided to implement the provisions of Council Regulation (EC) No 2679/98 of 7 December 1998 on the functioning of the internal market in relation to the free movement of goods among the Member States (1), in order to re-establish the free movement of goods as quickly as possible and hence limit the damage to Community operators. On 10 January 2000, therefore, under Article 3 of this Regulation, the Commission requested the French authorities to provide information about the measures they had taken to re-establish the free movement of goods. In their reply of 12 January 2000, the French authorities informed the Commission about the range of measures they had taken. They also stated that, in order to protect the interests of EU nationals who might suffer as a result of road blockades, the French Minister for the Interior had placed particular emphasis on the measures to be taken by the public-order authorities to allow subsequent processing of any claims for compensation. On this point the Commission would like to repeat that, in accordance with Community law, it is in fact the responsibility of the Member States to compensate operators whose rights under Article 28 (ex Article 30) of the EC Treaty may have been infringed. (1) OJ L 337, 12. 12. 1998. (2000/C 225 E/254) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0127/00 by Antonio Tajani (PPE-DE) to the Commission (27 January 2000) Subject: Exclusion of the Italian Council for the Disabled ü Relations with the European Union from the Italian representation on the European Disability Forum Is the Commission aware that the Italian Government has appointed as Italyís representative on the Disability Forum the National Council on Disability (CND), an association representing only 10 % of the disabled, yet has excluded the Italian Council for the Disabled ü Relations with the European Union (CID. UE), which, by contrast, represents 90 % of the disabled? Does it not consider that both associations are entitled to be represented at European level? What steps does it intend to take to reinstate the criterion of objective representativity for Italian disabled people? Answer given by Ms Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission (24 February 2000) The European Disability Forum is an independent organisation consisting of European disability NGOs and national councils for the disabled representing each Member State. The Forum works together with the Commission in implementing policies in favour of the disabled; its operating costs are funded by the Commission. The decision as to the membership of NGOs and national councils for the disabled is a matter for the Forum, whose procedures, notably as regards affiliation, are governed by its articles of association and house rules. However the Commission shares the Honourable Memberís concern to ensure the representativeness of the affiliated organisations, in particular the Italian National Council. To this end the Commission will contact the Forum in order to clarify the situation as regards the representativeness of its Italian member