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European Commission Spokesman's Briefing for 00-09-14
From: EUROPA, the European Commission Server at <http://europa.eu.int>
MIDDAY EXPRESS
News from the Spokesman's midday briefing
Nouvelles du rendez-vous de midi du Service Presse et Communicationb
14/09/2000
CONTENTS / CONTENU
[01] Ten years of EU merger control legislation
[02] Approbation de programmes de développement rural en faveur de la
Pologne, de la Hongrie, de la Bulgarie, de la République tchèque, de la
Lettonie et de la Slovénie
[03] Commission adopts further rural development programmes
[04] Euro-zone GDP grew by 0.9% ; +3.8% compared to the second quarter of
1999
[05] EU15 current account deficit euro 15 billion ; euro 0.1 billion
surplus on trade in services
[06] Reduction of sugar quota
[07] New Members of Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) appointed
[08] John Cushnahan MEP to head the EU-Sri Lankan election observation
mission
[09] Frits Bolkestein emphasises need for tax authorities to adapt to e-
commerce
[01] Ten years of EU merger control legislation
The Merger Regulation is one of the European Union's most successful
achievements ; it is also a cornerstone of the EU competition policy,
European Commission President Romano Prodi and Competition Commissioner
Mario Monti stated today as they opened a two-day conference to celebrate
10 years of European merger control law. Mr Monti also highlighted the
challenges ahead as mergers become increasingly more complex and continue
to arrive on the Commission's desk in great numbers.
[02] Approbation de programmes de développement rural en faveur de la
Pologne, de la Hongrie, de la Bulgarie, de la République tchèque, de la
Lettonie et de la Slovénie
Six programmes de développement rural, devant être cofinancés au titre du
programme communautaire de pré-adhésion SAPARD (Programme d'adhésion
spécial pour l'agriculture et le développement rural), ont été approuvés
par le comité STAR (comité des structures agricoles et du développement
rural). Ils concernent la Pologne, la Hongrie, la Bulgarie, la République
tchèque, la Lettonie et la Slovénie. Saluant le vote de cette première
série de programmes, M. Franz Fischler, membre de la Commission européenne
responsable de l'agriculture et du développement rural, a déclaré : "Notre
objectif est de faire parvenir aux pays candidats, aussi rapidement que
possible, des fonds permettant d'entamer la réalisation de projets. Les
programmes indiquent comment les secteurs de l'agriculture et de l'agro-
alimentaire des pays candidats préparent l'adhésion à l'UE. Les mesures
proposées joueront un rôle de premier plan dans l'adoption de l'acquis et
elles contribueront à renforcer la compétitivité dans la progression vers
l'adhésion." 520 millions d'euros seront affectés chaque année à l'aide à
la pré-adhésion dans le cadre de SAPARD. M. Fischler a rappelé que, pour
garantir les engagements budgétaires pris pour 2000, il faut encore remplir
une condition essentielle à la suite de l'adoption des programmes, à savoir
mettre au point les conventions pluriannuelles de financement. Ensuite, le
transfert des fonds sera possible, après approbation par la Commission de
l'accréditation des agences SAPARD et la conclusion des conventions
pluriannuelles et annuelles de financement.
[03] Commission adopts further rural development programmes
The European Commission has adopted the following Rural Development
Programmes for the period 2000-2006 : Spain, Catalonia (total public
contribution euro 400,98 million ; EU contribution euro 206,95 million ) ;
Spain, Navarre (total public contribution euro 285,519 million ; EU
contribution euro 143,871 million ) ; Spain, Aragon (total public
contribution euro 471,358 million ; EU contribution euro 257,695 million).
[04] Euro-zone GDP grew by 0.9% ; +3.8% compared to the second quarter of
1999
(! embargo 12 am !) Euro-zone and EU15 GDP both grew by 0.9% during the
second quarter of 2000, compared to the previous quarter, according to
first estimates out today from Eurostat. These figures follow a rise of
0.9% and 0.8% for the euro-zone and the EU15, respectively, in the first
quarter of 2000. Compared to the second quarter of 1999 euro-zone GDP grew
by 3.8% and EU-15 by 3.7% in the second quarter. Both estimations are above
the growth forecasted by the European Commission for the second quarter
2000 in its spring forecast earlier this year.
[05] EU15 current account deficit euro 15 billion ; euro 0.1 billion
surplus on trade in services
(! embargo 12 am !) According to Eurostat, the EU15 external current
account recorded a deficit of euro 15.0 billion in the second quarter of
2000, as compared with a surplus of euro 6.0 billion in the second quarter
of 1999 and a deficit of euro 22.8 billion in the first quarter of 2000. In
the second quarter of 2000 the EU15 external balance of trade in services
recorded a surplus of euro 0.1 billion as compared with a surplus of euro
4.5 billion in the second quarter of 1999 and a deficit of euro 1.5 billion
in the first quarter of 2000.
[06] Reduction of sugar quota
The Sugar Management Committee voted in favour of a draft European
Commission Regulation to reduce for the 2000/2001 marketing year (beginning
on July 1) the production quotas in the sugar sector by 498 800 tonnes.
This will bring the quotas to a total of 14 719 786 tonnes compared to 15
218 586 tonnes last year. The reduction is necessary to bring the EU in
conformity with their GATT obligations. These GATT commitments limit the
exports of sugar and sugar products that may benefit from an export refund
to 1 273 500 tonnes and the budget for the refunds to euro 499,1 million in
this marketing year. The reduction effectively represents a linear cut of
3.278 % in the existing quotas for the different sugar products (A and B
quota for sugar, isoglucose and inulin syrup). The draft regulation still
has to be adopted formally by the Commission.
[07] New Members of Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) appointed
The European Commission today took a first step in the renewal of the
mandate of the Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) by announcing the names
of the eight independent scientists selected by open competition for
membership of the new Committee. Chosen from 51 candidates by a selection
process chaired by Nobel laureate Prof. de Duve, David Byrne, Commissioner
for Health and Consumer Protection, said he was satisfied that "world class
expertise" would again be available to the SSC which plays a key role in
delivering scientific advice on complex issues such as BSE. The other eight
members of the SSC will be the chairs of the 8 sectoral scientific
committees whose mandates are also in the process of being renewed through
open competition. The first meeting of the renewed SSC will take place in
December 2000 ; meanwhile, the members of the existing SSC will continue to
carry out their mandate.
[08] John Cushnahan MEP to head the EU-Sri Lankan election observation
mission
The European Commission has appointed John Cushnahan, Member of the
European Parliament, as Chief Observer for the forthcoming mission to
observe the parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka on 10 October.
[09] Frits Bolkestein emphasises need for tax authorities to adapt to e-
commerce
(! embargo 2 pm !) "Rather than regarding issues raised by globalisation
and electronic commerce as a problem which threaten the fundamental
integrity of existing tax systems, we should be looking at them as an
opportunity and driving force to modernise these existing taxes and make
them more efficient in practice", European Taxation Commissioner Frits
Bolkestein said in his 14 September speech to the 'Vereninging voor
Belastingwetenschap' in Amsterdam. "It is not just within the EU that tax
administrations have to face the fact that many of the old and established
certainties no longer hold. E-commerce in particular has highlighted
deficiencies in existing tax systems world-wide and forced administrations
to consider long-overdue reform and simplification. This is a process which
is forcing tax administrations to look outside themselves. Their
realisation that many of their problems can only be resolved by cooperating
with each other can only be welcomed." On the specific issue of the
Commission's June 2000 proposal on the application of Value Added Tax to
products delivered electronically, Mr Bolkestein emphasised that the
measure would "remove the competitive handicap currently affecting EU
providers on both domestic and world markets" and was in full conformity
with the international principles agreed at the OECD Ministerial conference
in Ottawa in 1998. "We cannot allow competitive distortions to persist, to
the detriment of European based e-commerce", he insisted.
MIDDAY EXPRESS
From EUROPA, the European Commission Server at http://europa.eu.int/
© ECSC - EC - EAEC, Brussels-Luxembourg, 1995, 1996
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