WRITTEN QUESTION E-2676/99 by Malcolm Harbour (PPE-DE) to the Commission. State aid to the car industry.
C 280 E/100 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 3. 10. 2000 (2000/C 280 E/102) WRITTEN QUESTION P-2670/99 by Jorge HernÆndez Mollar (PPE-DE) to the Commission (11 January 2000) Subject: Resignation of the Director-General of Social Affairs and Employment We have heard that the Director-General of Social Affairs and Employment has recently resigned. Could the Commission provide information concerning the reasons for this resignation and the impact which the resignation will have on the establishment of the Commissionís position during the preparations for the Lisbon Council meeting on employment and competitiveness in Europe? Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission (24 January 2000) Allan Larsson, the Director-general of the Employment and social affairs Directorate general, has not resigned. Mr Larsson has announced his intention to leave the Commission when he completes five years in his post later this year, as he is entitled to do. The Commission is currently preparing its contribution to the Lisbon European Council. All services are contributing in the normal way. (2000/C 280 E/103) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2676/99 by Malcolm Harbour (PPE-DE) to the Commission (12 January 2000) Subject: State aid to the car industry The Commission has indicated that state aid to the car industry will be the subject of a special investigation. When will this study be completed and how will the Commission ensure that car companies wishing to establish new plants in the European Union are not placed at a competitive disadvantage against aid offers from non-EU countries, inducing them to resite their operations outside the Union? Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission (8 February 2000) The Commission introduced a Community framework for state aid to the motor vehicle industry in 1989 (the ácar frameworkí) with the twofold aim of increasing the transparency of aid flows and imposing strict discipline in the granting of such aid in order to reduce distortion of competition to a minimum. The current framework entered into force on 1 January 1998 for a three year period. The framework stipulates that at the end of that period, the Commission will decide whether to extend it, in particular in the light of the status of the proposed multisectoral framework. The Commission has recently started work on the future of the car framework. An independent consultant has been appointed to assist the Commission. Extensive discussions will be held with the Member States and the automotive industry. The Commission should be able to adopt a final decision on the future of the car framework in July 2000. Regarding unfair competition from third countries offering aid packages with the view to obtaining relocation of activities, recent experience shows that often when a car manufacturer is considering the location of an investment project (for which the targeted markets are in Western Europe) the alternative is either to invest in the Community or to develop new operations in the applicant countries. 3. 10. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 280 E/101 Europe agreements provide for the application by these countries of the áacquis communautaireí in the field of state aid. This means that under these agreements the applicant countries cannot grant unfair aid packages to a company investing in their country. The Commission is currently investigating public aid cases concerning car manufacturers in Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia. An exemplary co-operation took place this year between the Czech Republic and the Commission in the assessment by the Czech authorities of an aid offer to Skoda (a subsidiary of the Volkswagen group). The Community rules were applied and the final aid amount was reduced from from € 130 million to € 22 million. (2000/C 280 E/104) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2683/99 by Luis Berenguer Fuster (PSE) to the Commission Subject: Competition law and the Spanish electricity sector (12 January 2000) In October the Spanish Government announced that if approval were not granted for aid to cover the costs of transition to competition (CTCs) for the electricity companies, consumersí bills would rise. The body representing the electricity industry recently reiterated this point, in an attempt to reinforce the idea that these measures, currently under investigation by the European Commission as state aids, are positive. Quite apart from the fact that it does not appear to make sense, this announcement demonstrates that although the liberalisation of the electricity sector has gone through, the companies enjoy a position of joint dominance which allows them to fix their prices with the government without reference to competitors, since none in fact exist. Does the Commission agree that these assertions by the Spanish Government and the electricity companies prove that competition does not exist within the Spanish electricity industry? Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission (25 February 2000) The Spanish government has notified the Commission of its plans to grant the companies in the electricity sector a financial compensation in order to help their adaptation to competition following the liberal- isation of the sector under Directive 96/92/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 1996 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity (1). At present, the Commission is closely examining this notification. The Commission has not yet finalised this examination, and can thus not communicate its results yet. The Commission has not recently made any other investigation on competition in the electricity sector in Spain. Therefore, the Commission is currently not in a position to reply to the question of the Honourable Member. (1) OJ L 27, 30. 1. 1997. (2000/C 280 E/105) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2685/99 by Roberta Angelilli (UEN) to the Commission (12 January 2000) Subject: Damage done to the Pontine coast in Italy by the Lazio regional authorities Several months ago, áenvironmental regenerationí operations at Porto Badino, in the commune of Terracina. Gravel was spread along the waterís edge and several kilometres of beach were subsequently ruined and rendered inaccessible as a result of the gravel the regional authorities of Lazio ordered several