WRITTEN QUESTION P-0805/00 by Othmar Karas (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Funds for the Prince Programme ‐ information campaign about the euro.
C 303 E/210 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 24. 10. 2000 (2000/C 303 E/242) WRITTEN QUESTION P-0805/00 by Othmar Karas (PPE-DE) to the Commission (9 March 2000) Subject: Funds for the Prince Programme ü information campaign about the euro Over the last two years, the appropriations allocated for the information programme for European citizens have not been fully utilised. A commitment appropriation of EUR 38 million was entered in the 1999 budget, but only EUR 35,1 million was actually committed. Given that the level of information and knowledge of the appropriations available is quite incomprehensible and regrettable and prompts several questions. the euro is totally inadequate, the average citizen about the failure to use all Why was the appropriation entered against Article B3-306 not fully utilised, although Eurobarometer statistics relating to businesses and to the general public, especially disadvantaged groups, show a more than negligible need to give a boost to preparations for the changeover? What areas suffered from the cuts in expenditure: cofinancing of national campaigns or the Europe-wide campaign to be carried out by the Commission? What kind of expenditure was not made? What reasons are given for the failure to use all the appropriations? Have many Member States not taken up the appropriations available to them? If so, which ones? Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission (4 April 2000) In the 1999 budget, a total of € 38 million was earmarked for two priority measures: € 35,1 for the programme The euro, a currency for Europeí and € 2,9 million for Agenda 2000. As far as the euro is concerned, the Commission implemented its initial plan, and 98,6 % of the funds for 1999 were committed, compared with 99,9 % in 1998. Regarding Agenda 2000, the Member States, with the exception of France and to a lesser extent the Netherlands and Ireland, opted not to enter into agreements with the Commission. For this reason the funds initially allocated were not fully used up. Under its programme The euro, a currency for Europeí, the Commission has established bilateral partner- ships with 13 Member States. For their own internal reasons, the United Kingdom and Denmark decided not to make use of this option. (2000/C 303 E/243) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0949/00 by Marie-Noºlle Lienemann (PSE) to the Commission Subject: Large-scale redundancies in the ABB-Alsthom Group (29 March 2000) Can the Commission verify whether the procedure followed by ABB-Alsthom Power with regard to its expected redundancies in many EU countries complies with Community law? Can it also take action to prevent these redundancies? Most of these redundancies are not really based on true industrial requirements and pose huge social problems. Worse still, however, is the fact that the decisions have been taken without any form of dialogue or negotiation with the trade unions and the European works councils. It appears that the EU directive on European works councils is unsuitable for two-company mergers, especially when the merger is on a 50-50 basis, and does not guarantee that workers will be consulted when facing post-merger redundancies