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European Commission Spokesman's Briefing for 00-11-24
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
24/11/2000
CONTENTS / CONTENU
[01] Scoreboard : Member States speed up adoption of Internal Market rules
[02] Commission suspects alleged Austrian 'Lombard Club' cartel also fixed
euro-zone exchange charges
[03] Euro 839 million for the Balkans in 2001
[04] Scientific opinions on dioxin in feed and food
[05] Structural Funds : more EU co-financed projects for Central and
Eastern European candidate countries
[06] September 2000 industrial production up 0.8% in euro-zone ; up 0.7% in
EU15
[01] Scoreboard : Member States speed up adoption of Internal Market rules
Efforts by Member States to give priority to the implementation of Internal
Market Directives are reflected in the latest issue of the Single Market
Scoreboard. The implementation rate has therefore improved considerably in
most Member States. However, Greece, France and Portugal are still lagging
behind. Their 'implementation deficits' are still more than three times
larger than those of the best performing countries, namely Denmark, Finland,
Sweden and Spain. Of the priority measures identified in the Internal
Market Strategy Review 2000 as likely to have the greatest and most
immediate impact on the efficient functioning of the Internal Market, all
but two have already been completed. The Scoreboard also features a survey
of some four thousand businesses that shows an increasing level of
satisfaction with the operation of the Internal Market. Three quarters of
all firms interviewed consider that the consolidation of the Internal
Market will be favourable or very favourable for their business.
[02] Commission suspects alleged Austrian 'Lombard Club' cartel also fixed
euro-zone exchange charges
The European Commission has sent a supplementary statement of objections to
Austrian banks suspected to have participated in a cartel known as the
Lombard Club. The new statement is based on evidence that the banks would
have also entered into unlawful discussions concerning euro-zone exchange
charges. This is the latest step in a Commission investigation to ascertain
whether banks in the euro-zone colluded on the fees charged to the consumer
for exchanging currencies.
[03] Euro 839 million for the Balkans in 2001
Early this morning, the Council of ministers and the European Parliament
agreed on a number of crucial issues concerning the adoption of the EU
budget for 2001. The European Commission welcomes the outcome of this
conciliation, and in particular the solution agreed for the Balkans, i.e.
euro 839 million for the whole region including euro 240 million to Serbia.
Budget Commissioner, Michaele Schreyer, declared : "On the eve of the
Zagreb Summit, it is very good news that the European Union is living up to
its promises towards democratic Serbia while providing continued support to
the entire region. I am delighted that the budgetary authority agreed on
the figures I proposed in May. Over two years (2000-2001), the EU will have
more than euro 1.8 bilion to spend in the Balkans. This is a major
contribution to the stability of the region."
[04] Scientific opinions on dioxin in feed and food
The Scientific Committee on Food (SCF) and the Scientific Committee on
Animal Nutrition (SCAN) have today published opinions on the contamination
of food products and animal feed by dioxins and closely related PCBs. Given
the persistent nature of these compounds the SCF has established a
temporary tolerable weekly intake (t-TWI) of 7 picogram equivalents per
kilogram body weight for dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs. The main conclusion
of the SCAN is that fish oil and fishmeal are the most heavily contaminated
feed materials. Both the SCAN and the SCF recommend an integrated approach
to reduce dioxin contamination all along the food chain, a continuing
reduction of the emissions to the environment and more systematic and co-
ordinated generation and collection of comparable and reliable data. The
European Commission has been actively working towards a comprehensive
strategy to deal with dioxin contamination in food and has asked for both
scientific opinions as part of that process. The Feira European Council of
June this year asked the Commission to propose harmonised rules on
contaminants. Today's scientific opinions form the key scientific input to
the development of this strategy. Based on these scientific opinions the
Commission will be consulting with Member States in the near future with a
view to bringing forward legislative proposals early in 2001. The full
texts of the opinions are available at : http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/scan/outcome_en.html
and http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/scf/outcome_en.html
[05] Structural Funds : more EU co-financed projects for Central and
Eastern European candidate countries
The European Commission's Instrument for Structural Policies for Pre-
Accession (ISPA) is likely to use the whole budget foreseen for 2000 to
help the Central and Eastern European candidate countries improve their
environment and transport infrastructure. The ISPA Management Committee,
with delegations from the Member States, has given its go ahead for another
30 projects. The projects involve more than euro 384 million. This positive
opinion is the first step in the approval procedure. Once Commissioner
Michel Barnier, European Commissioner for regional policy, has signed the
decisions on behalf of the Commission, the implementation of the projects
can begin.
[06] September 2000 industrial production up 0.8% in euro-zone ; up 0.7% in
EU15
(! embargo 12 am !) Seasonally adjusted industrial production increased by
0.8% in the euro-zone in September compared to August, Eurostat estimates
today. This follows an advance of 0.5% in both August and July. Production
in the EU15 rose by 0.7% in September, after an increase of 0.5% in August
and of 0.7% in July. Production posted a strong gain in Sweden (4.9%) and
in Finland (2.2%). Output increased by 0.8% in both Germany and Denmark.
The index declined in Portugal (-0.7%), the UK (-1.0%), Belgium (-1.2%),
Luxembourg (-1.3%) and in Spain (-2.0%). Compared with September 1999,
output in September 2000 increased by 5.6% in the euro-zone and by 4.9% in
the EU15.
MIDDAY EXPRESS
From EUROPA, the European Commission Server at http://europa.eu.int/
© ECSC - EC - EAEC, Brussels-Luxembourg, 1995, 1996
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