WRITTEN QUESTION P-0279/00 by Roberta Angelilli (UEN) to the Commission. Closure of the Goodyear plant at Cisterna di Latina (Italy).
C 225 E/198 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 8. 8. 2000 (2000/C 225 E/224) WRITTEN QUESTION P-0279/00 by Roberta Angelilli (NI) to the Commission (3 February 2000) Subject: Closure of the Goodyear plant at Cisterna di Latina (Italy) It was recently announced that the Goodyear plant at Cisterna di Latina is to be closed, with the loss of 560 direct jobs and a similar number of indirect jobs. The closure, which is likely to cause a serious crisis in an area which is already experiencing difficulties, is claimed to come as a result of áexcess production capacityí and ácompetition in the European tyre industry as a wholeí. Since 1965, Goodyear has benefited from a large number of incentives provided by the Community and the national authorities, in the form of tax relief and subsidies. Given the above, would the Commission state whether: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. the decision to close the plant is not in breach of Council Directive 98/59/EC (1) of 20 July 1998 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to collective redundancies; the failure to involve workers in joint discussions and consultations with the companyís management is not in breach of Council Directive 94/45/EC (2) of 22 September 1994 on the establishment of a European Works Council and the consultation of workers in Community-scale undertakings; it has drawn up an evaluation of the application of the directive on collective redundancies and company closures and made proposals for effective sanctions in the event of non-observance, as called for in Parliamentís resolution on the restructuring of firms in the face of globalisation (B5-0185/1999), and whether such action is called for in connection with the Goodyear affair in Cisterna di Latina; it would not agree that, as provided for in the above resolution, social clauses should be agreed with Goodyear with a view to protecting workers, given in particular that the company has other production plants in Europe; it would not agree that account should be taken of the events at Cisterna di Latina with a view to the granting of any structural funds to Goodyear plants in Member States for the period 2000-2006, and that disbursement of such aid should be made dependent on medium-to-long-term commitments on jobs and local development on the part of that multinationalís management; it would not agree that the economic justification for Goodyearís decision should be properly assessed, given that the plan for 2000 which the multinational presented in Las Vegas on 20 January 2000 pointed to extremely good economic prospects and made provision for productivity increases and the consolidation of Goodyearís market position, not least in Europe, and even for new acquisitions in the 21st century; 7. it would not agree that crises of this kind could be averted by means of arrangements under which workers hold shares in companies? (1) OJ L 225, 12. 8. 1998, p. 16. (2) OJ L 254, 30. 9. 1994, p. 64. Joint answer to Written Questions E-2739/99 and P-0279/00 given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission (6 March 2000) The Commission is collecting the information it needs to answer the question. It will communicate its findings as soon as possible