WRITTEN QUESTION P-0159/00 by Carl Lang (TDI) to the Commission. Flooding in the South of France.
3. 10. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 280 E/189 The Commission is aware of the newspaper article to which the Honourable Member refers but would point out that the criticism voiced in it related to a preliminary draft which had not been approved by the Commission. The Honourable Member will find that his concerns are fully met by the text of the proposal for a Regulation on public access to Parliament, Council and Commission documents. The proposal improves and amplifies the scope of the rules currently in force in the institutions, extending them to cover incoming documents in their possession. The redefinition of the proposalís scope in no way prevents individuals or bodies from participating in the decision-making process or deliberations of the institutions. Such participation is indispensable to decision- making in a democratic system. (1) COM(00) 30 final. (2000/C 280 E/219) WRITTEN QUESTION P-0159/00 by Carl Lang (TDI) to the Commission (26 January 2000) Subject: Flooding in the South of France In reply to a question by my colleague Mr Jean-Claude Martinez (E-2395/99) (1), the Commission indicated that no emergency aid was paid by the Community to Member States in response to natural disasters but that it intended to provide ERDF or EAGGF appropriations for affected areas under certain conditions. How will the Commission ensure that these notoriously bureaucratic and lengthy procedures are 1. implemented rapidly? How can the Commission justify excluding an affected area from such aid on the grounds that it is 2. no longer situated in an area eligible for structural funds under the programmes for 2000-2006? 3. Given the profound injustice of a situation in which the Commission grants emergency aid to third countries while at the same time, refusing it to Member States of the European Union, will it remedy matters, for example by re-entering the appropriation under an amending budget for 2000? (1) OJ C 225 E, 8. 8. 2000, p. 124. Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission (23 February 2000) The Honourable Member should refer to the information memo adopted by the Commission on 12 January 2000 (1) and also to its contribution to the debate during the plenary session of Parliament in January 2000 (2). SEC(00) 40. (1) (2) Debates of the European Parliament (January 2000). (2000/C 280 E/220) WRITTEN QUESTION P-0161/00 by Ole Andreasen (ELDR) to the Commission (26 January 2000) Subject: Information policy At the European Council meeting in Helsinki of 10 and 11 December 1999, it was decided that the Commission should be invited to study the general question of the Unionís information policy