WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1843/98 by Yves VERWAERDE to the Commission. Financial support for an information campaign to publicize Natura 2000
18. 1. 1999 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 13/99 At present the Council is considering what steps to take as a result of the mission but it has not decided to appoint a special representative for Tibet. (1999/C 13/140) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1843/98 by Yves Verwaerde (PPE) to the Commission (12 June 1998) Subject: Financial support for an information campaign to publicize Natura 2000 Further to Mrs Bjerregaardís answer to my Written Question E-0629/98 (1), I should like the following specific information: pursuant to the Council Decision of 16 December 1997 on a Community action programme promoting non-governmental organizations principally active in the field of environmental protection, which NGOs received a Community subsidy for activities directly connected with Natura 2000? (1) OJ C 310, 9. 10. 1998, p. 106. Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission (10 July 1998) Following the call for the submission of proposals for the promotion of European non-governmental organisa- tions (NGOs ) whose principal activity is in the field of environmental protection (1), in 1997 the Commission granted a Community subsidy to NGOs for activities directly connected with Natura 2000. The organisations in question are the World Wildlife Fund, the European Policy Office (Belgium), Stichting Wetlands International (Netherlands) and Birdlife International (Austria). A complete list of NGOs which received funding in 1997 has been published in the Official Journal (2). The Commission has published a call for the submission of proposals (3) pursuant to Council Decision 97/872/EC of 16 December 1997 on a Community action programme promoting non-governmental organisations primarily active in the field of environmental protection, (4) The selection procedure relating to this call for proposals is in progress. (1) OJ C 53, 22. 2. 1997. (2) OJ C 85, 20. 3. 1998. (3) OJ 25, 24. 1. 1998. (4) OJ L 354, 30. 12. 1997. (1999/C 13/141) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1845/98 by Gunilla Carlsson (PPE) to the Commission (12 June 1998) Subject: Insurance on labour market in Sweden Through Swedish collective agreements, the trade unions severely restrict the ability of firms freely to choose insurance companies on behalf of their employees owing to the fact that insurance companies linked to trade union collective agreements have a special status in Swedish law. Swedish competition law and labour market policy exempt these companies from the general rules on competition. What is the Commissionís view of this method of circumventing the rules designed to guarantee competition in the internal market?