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European Commission Spokesman's Briefing for 01-04-02
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
Midday Express 02/04/2001
[01] Romano Prodi reacts to the arrest of Slobodan Milosevic
The President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, reacted yesterday
to the arrest of Slobodan Milosevic : "I have always said that we have
confidence in the young democracy of Yugoslavia and its leaders. They have
done the right thing in arresting Mr Milosevic. Those accused of crimes
against humanity must be brought to trial. The values of human rights and
justice are at the heart of the European Union and part of the common
inheritance of all democratic European nations. Yugoslavia has taken
another important step towards modern Europe."
[02] Chris Patten welcomes Slobodan Milosevic arrest
European Commissioner for External Relations, Chris Patten, issued the
following statement : "I welcome the arrest of Slobodan Milosevic as a very
important first step in bringing him to justice, and congratulate the
authorities in Belgrade. It is right that Milosevic should answer to the
Serbian people for the crimes he has committed against them, and in their
name. Milosevic's crimes, however, extend well beyond the borders of
Serbia. As the mass graves of Bosnia and Croatia testify, his were crimes
not just against Serbia, but against humanity. For the sake of all his
victims, and for the sake of stability and peace in the Balkans, Milosevic
must ultimately face justice for those crimes. Today marks the end of
Milosevic's impunity for all he has done, and a step forward for the people
of Yugoslavia."
[03] Statement by President Prodi on climate change
"I am very concerned and disappointed about the apparent decision by the US
Administration to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol. This is no longer
simply an environmental issue. It is hard to understand how it is possible
simply to abandon an ongoing effort by the international community to
tackle one of the biggest challenges to global sustainability, namely the
cutting of greenhouse gas emissions. The scientists are saying very clearly
that the climate is changing and this could have disastrous consequences.
The Kyoto Protocol provides a solid basis for the efforts to combat climate
change and we want it to come into force by 2002. The EU has proposed a
dialogue at the highest level, which I hope the US will engage in
constructively."
[04] Commission clears electronic mailbox joint venture in Denmark
The European Commission has cleared a joint venture called e-Boks between
Danish IT operating companies DMdata and Kommunedata. e-Boks will provide a
Business-to-Consumer mailing and storage infrastructure facility, i.e. an
electronic mailbox. The Commission's review showed that the joint venture
will be active in a new market where the parent companies presently have no
activities.
[05] Commission clears Huntsman International's buy of Albright & Wilson's
European surfactants
The European Commission has approved the acquisition by US company Huntsman
International LLC of the European surfactants business (Albright & Wilson
Surfactants Europe) of Albright & Wilson Ltd. Huntsman International is a
manufacturer of a wide variety of commodity and specialty chemicals,
whereas Albright & Wilson Surfactants Europe produces and sells in Europe
surface active agents. The deal does not give rise to any competition
problems.
[06] La Commission ouvre une enquête approfondie concernant l'acquisition
de Legrand par Schneider Electric
La Commission européenne a ouvert une enquête approfondie concernant le
projet d'acquisition, par la société française Schneider Electric SA, de
Legrand SA, aussi française, par voie d'une offre publique d'échange. Les
deux sociétés fabriquent des équipements de distribution d'électricité
basse tension et ont des activités dans la plupart des pays européens. La
Commission considère que cette opération nécessite un examen plus détaillé
quant à sa compatibilité avec les règles de concurrence européennes, compte
tenu des positions très solides de Schneider et de Legrand sur certain
marchés aussi bien au niveau européen qu'au niveau national.
[07] EU scientists advise on BSE-related issues and review recent research
The Scientific Steering Committee has today published opinions on a number
of BSE-related issues. The Committee reviewed the information available to
date on the safety of milk and reconfirmed there is no evidence pointing at
a possible BSE risk presented by milk or colostrum, but recommends that for
precautionary reasons the milk, colostrum or milk products from animals
with clinical signs of BSE should not be consumed. The scientists also
reviewed the scientific justification provided by the Austrian authorities
for its bans on imports of live cattle and bovine products from Germany and
France. They find the justification provided is not substantial enough to
give any significant evidence of an additional BSE risk. The SSC adopted an
opinion evaluating the significance of a second case of BSE in the UK in an
animal born after the 1st of August 1996 when the re-inforced MBM feed ban
was introduced. On the basis of the information provided by the UK
authorities they conclude this second case is no cause for modifying its
opinion on the UK Data Based Export Scheme. The SSC also recommends to
monitor some of the offspring of BSE cases so as to collect possible field
evidence of maternal transmission of BSE. The Committee in addition adopted
two statements for the minutes. The first concerns a new process for
treating BSE and TSE contaminated waste materials based on alkaline
hydrolysis at elevated temperature. The second concerns an opinion of the
French Food Safety Agency AFFSA which the Committee finds does not provide
new elements with respect to its standing opinion of February 2001 on the
presence of BSE in small ruminants. The full text of the opinions are
available at : http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/ssc/outcome_en.html
[08] BSE : Scientists publish geographical BSE risk assessment for thirteen
third countries
The Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) advising the European Commission
inter alia on BSE related issues has today published its opinion on the
Geographical Risk of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (GBR) in Albania,
Brazil, Colombia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary,
India, Mauritius, Pakistan, Poland, Singapore and Slovakia. The Committee
concludes that is highly unlikely that cattle infected with the BSE agent
are present in domestic herds of Brazil and Singapore (GBR level I). They
found that it is unlikely but not excluded in the herds of India, Pakistan,
Colombia and Mauritius (GBR level II) and that it is likely that BSE is
present in the cattle herds of Albania, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia,
Hungary, Poland and the Slovak Republic (GBR level III) although not yet
confirmed. The evaluation of the geographical risk of presence of BSE
focuses on the risk for animals to incubate the disease.
[09] Commission sends experts to assist in the clean-up of the oil
pollution in Denmark
European Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström today announced that
following a request from the Danish civil protection authorities, three
experts from the European Task Force dealing with accidental marine
pollution were sent to Denmark on 1st April. The experts, two from France
and one from the European Commission, are specialists in operational and
technical aspects of marine pollution. They will help the Danish
authorities to define the best means of minimising the impact of oil
pollution from the 29th of March wreck of the Baltic Carrier and to ensure
the recovery of affected areas. In this way the lessons learnt and the know-
how acquired in the huge pollution from the Erika accident in France in
December 1999, will be at the disposal of the Danish local authorities and
experts dealing with the emergency. The pollutant heavy fuel oil is very
similar in the two cases.
[10] FMD : zoo animals to be vaccinated under certain conditions
The European Commission invited veterinary experts and experts on zoo-
animals to discuss the options to protect rare and endangered species in
zoos, including the possibility of vaccination in cases where there is a
serious risk of contracting foot and mouth disease (FMD). There was
consensus on the imperative needs to apply any possibly disease prevention
measures irrespective of the use of vaccines in areas at risk. Clearly,
therefore, Member States where there have been outbreaks of FMD should have
in place contingency plans to protect zoos including resorting to
vaccination if such a risk was identified. Other Member States at lower
risk, should maintain a high level of vigilance in relation to their zoo
animals. In the event that a Member State considers necessary to vaccinate
zoo animals, the Commission will take the circumstances into consideration
and defend these actions in the relevant international institutions,
especially the OIE and in relation to any trade restrictions imposed by
third countries on EC exports. The experts considered, with the appropriate
safeguards, that zoo animals could be vaccinated without jeopardising the
animal health status of a country where such animals are kept under
appropriate controlled conditions.
[11] Marchés des valeurs mobilières : les services de la Commission lancent
des consultations sur les mécanismes de compensation et de règlement
Les services de la Commission européenne ont lancé des consultations sur
les mécanismes transfrontaliers de compensation et de règlement dans
l'Union européenne. Leur but est de parvenir à une meilleure compréhension
des obstacles qui gênent actuellement les transactions transfrontalières
sur les marchés des valeurs mobilières de l'Union et de commencer à cerner
les questions que pourraient soulever d'éventuels futurs modèles de
compensation et de règlement ainsi que les répercussions qui pourraient
être les leurs. Les informations ainsi recueillies serviront à un groupe
consultatif chargé des questions relatives aux marchés financiers et
présidé par M. Alberto Giovannini (le "groupe Giovannini), qui travaille
actuellement sur les mécanismes transfrontaliers de compensation et de
règlement. En outre, la Commission utilisera ces informations dans le cadre
de la révision de la directive sur les services d'investissement (voir
IP/00/1315) à laquelle elle procède actuellement et, plus généralement,
dans le contexte des efforts qu'elle déploie pour repérer et éliminer les
entraves à l'activité de compensation et de règlement en Europe. Les
consultations s'effectuent sur la base d'un questionnaire disponible sur le
site Europa à l'adresse suivante: http://europa.eu.int/comm/economy_finance/giovannini/index_en.htm
ou http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market (cliquer sur "Quoi de neuf?")
[12] Commission takes stock of "EMU : The First Two Years"
The European Commission services publish today comprehensive review of the
first two years of Economic and Monetary Union. Solid progress has been
made in all the four areas covered by the report which includes : (i) an
assessment of the macro-economic performance of the euro-area economy
during the past two years including a discussion of the achievements in the
area of monetary and fiscal policy and issues related to economic policy
coordination ; (ii) an assessment of the external development of the euro,
including its role as an international currency ; (iii) the important
changes which have taken place in euro-area financial markets ; (iv) a
stock taking of the preparations for completing the changeover to the euro.
The report is available on DG ECFIN's web-site as of 13h00 today :
http://europa.eu.int/comm/economy_finance/document/europap/eup42en.pdf
[13] Commission publishes report on impact of euro introduction on CAP
The European Commission published a report entitled "Report on the
implementation of the transitional measures for the introduction of the
euro in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)". The results of the analysis
depict the introduction of to the euro on 1 January 1999 as smooth in the
case of the CAP. The report initially focuses on the implementation of the
transitional provisions which are founded on the same structure as that of
the agrimonetary rules and it addresses the steps taken by Member States
towards granting agrimonetary compensation in accordance with transitional
measures. Particular emphasis is placed on the effect of transitional
measures on farmers' incomes. Clear distinctions are drawn between the
potential effects of the euro, on the one hand on prices, and on the other,
on direct aid. Finally, the report concludes that the shift towards a more
integrated European Union has had no effect on the income of farmers,
causing no abnormal changes either in the number of animals or the areas
under arable crops. In fact, it has actually simplified matters : a result
of the existence of the euro itself and the manner in which it was
introduced in the common agricultural policy. The report will is published
at the following web address : http://europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/markets/euro/index_en.htm
[14] Chris Patten to visit Skopje EU reacts to the crisis in FYROM
European Commissioner for External Relations, Mr Chris Patten, visits the
capital of Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Skopje on
Monday 2 April together with EU's High Representative for Common Foreign
and Security Policy, Mr Javier Solana. During the visit they will meet
President Trajkovski, members of the Government and leaders of opposition
parties in the run-up to the signature of the Stabilisation and Association
Agreement, scheduled to take place in Luxembourg on 9 April. FYROM is the
first country of the region to agree a Stabilisation and Association
Agreement with the European Union.
[15] Pascal Lamy visits Russia to underline EU support for Russian efforts
to join WTO and reinforce bilateral trade links
European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy last Friday reiterated the EU's
support for Russia's efforts to accede to the World Trade Organisation
(WTO). Speaking in Moscow at a Roundtable on "Russia, the International
Economy and the WTO", attended by leading figures from both the public and
private sectors including Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Kudrin,
Trade Minister German Gref, WTO Director General Mike Moore and Swedish
Trade Minister Leif Pagrotsky, Commissioner Lamy underlined the EU's
commitment as Russia's principal trading partner, to working together with
Russia towards its accession to the WTO. Recognising that Russia has made
important efforts to give new momentum to the negotiations, Mr Lamy said :
"Today's conference has focused minds and injected dynamism to the task of
Russia's accession to the WTO, a gradual process that cannot be completed
overnight. Russia can count on us to accompany it along this road".
[16] Margot Wallström asks for stakeholders' input on new chemicals policy
In a speech opening today's Stakeholders Conference on the Commission's
White Paper on a new Chemicals Policy, European Environment Commissioner
Margot Wallström invited stakeholders from Member States, the European
Parliament, industry, NGO's, the science world as well as our international
partners for their view on the Commission's ideas for a new chemicals
policy as set out in the White Paper presented in February. Mrs Wallström
hightlighted the importance of making the new system for authorising
chemicals products as practical and competititive as possible without
causing risks to human health and the environment. The Commissioner said :
"I am convinced that the new system outlined in the White Paper will
contribute to sustainable development in the area of chemicals. It will
foster a high level of protection both for human health and the environment,
as well as innovation and competitiveness of the European chemical
industry."
[17] Autre matériel diffusé
Note sur la préparation du Conseil Transports
Déclaration de M. Monti
MIDDAY EXPRESS
From EUROPA, the European Commission Server at http://europa.eu.int/
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