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European Commission Spokesman's Briefing for 01-07-23
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 20/07/2001
[01] Commission proposes strategy to reduce dioxin in food and feed
The European Commission has put forward to the Standing Committee on
Foodstuffs and the Standing Committee for Feedingstuffs proposals to limit
the presence of dioxin in food and feed. The Commission proposes a sound
strategy which as a first step would set strict but feasible maximum limits
to take effect from January 2002 onwards. Any food or feed exceeding these
maximum limits would be considered unsuitable for consumption. In addition
to the establishment of maximum limits, target and action levels would be
set: Target levels in food and feed would set the ultimate goal of
achieving a human exposure below the tolerable weekly intake of 14
programmes dioxins. Action levels would act as a tool of "early warning" of
higher than desirable levels of dioxin in food and feed, that would trigger
investigations to identify and reduce/eliminate the source of
contamination. These action levels would lie between the maximum limits and
the target levels. The action levels would be laid down in a Commission
Recommendation as a package with the legislation establishing maximum
limits respectively in food and feed. The target levels would be set as
soon as more scientific data becomes available. If the proposed measures
are supported by the Member States, the entire package will be formally
adopted in autumn by the Commission.
[02] New research reveals the real costs of electricity in Europe
A major EU funded research study undertaken over the past 10 years has
proven that the cost of producing electricity from coal or oil would double
and the cost of electricity production from gas would increase by 30% if
external costs such as damage to the environment and to health were taken
into account. It is estimated that these costs amount up to 1-2 % of the
EU's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), not including the cost of global
warming. They have to be covered by society at large, since they are not
included in the bills which electricity consumers pay. The EXTERNE project,
which was undertaken by researchers from all EU Member States and the
United States of America, was designed to quantify these socio-
environmental costs of electricity production. It is the first research
project ever to put plausible financial figures against damages resulting
from different forms of electricity production (fossil, nuclear and
renewable) for the entire EU.
[03] Le nouveau rapport de la Commission met en évidence l'évolution rapidE
des marchés du travail de l'UE. Les meilleurs résultats sont enregistré
chez les femmes très qualifiées exerçant dans le domaine des hautes
technologies. La Commission publie aujourd'hui son rapport "L'emploi en
Europe 2001". Ce rapport, à périodicité annuelle, montre que le
fonctionnement des marchés du travail de l'UE connaît une amélioration
générale rapide. La palme en matière de création d'emplois revient aux
femmes très qualifiées évoluant dans le domaine des hautes technologies. Le
rapport présente une analyse des principales tendances ainsi que des
perspectives d'emploi dans l'UE et dans les pays candidats à l'adhésion,
dans le contexte des nouveaux objectifs pour l'emploi définis lors des
Conseils européens de Lisbonne et de Stockholm. Cependant, le rapport
souligne que dans certains secteurs, les personnes d'un même sexe restent
majoritaires. Cette tendance est évidente, y compris au sein des emplois
non manuels hautement qualifiés qui connaissent une croissance rapide, et
elle s'accentue même parmi les professions traditionnelles. Il apparaît que
l'accélération des cadences de travail affecte la qualité de l'emploi.
[04] Internal Market: Commission pursues infringement proceedings against
Ireland, UK, France and Spain for failure to implement Directives The
European Commission has decided to refer France, Ireland and Spain to the
EU's Court of Justice for failure to implement a Directive concerning the
right of establishment for lawyers throughout the EU (98/5/EC). The
Commission has also decided to refer the United Kingdom to the Court of
Justice for failure to implement the Directive on supervision of insurance
groups (98/78/EC). Finally, the Commission has decided to send Ireland a
formal request to implement an amendment to the product liability
Directive. This request takes the form of a so-called 'reasoned opinion',
the second stage of infringement proceedings under Article 226 of the EC
Treaty.
[05] Commissioner Schreyer in Slovenia
Ms Michaele Schreyer, Commissioner for Budget, will pay a two-day working
visit to Slovenia on 22 and 23 July 2001. She will meet in Ljubljana with
the Minister for Finance Mr Anton ROP, the Minister for European Affairs Mr
Igor BAVCAR, the Minister for Agriculture Mr Franci BUT and Dr Vojko
ANTONCIC, President of the Court of Audit. Ms Schreyer will discuss with
the Slovenian authorities on the budgetary aspects of accession, in
particular on Chapter 29 of the negotiations (the implementation of the own
resources system). She will also address the question of financial control
forming Chapter 28 of the negotiations which was provisionally closed for
Slovenia in May 2000. During her stay, Mr Schreyer will visit together with
Mr Jakob PRESECNIK, Minister of Transport the site of a project aiming at
connecting the two valleys in Slovenia and Austria over the Alpine passage
at the Border Crossing Pavlicevo Sedlo which was co-financed by the PHARE
programme and just completed. The Commissioner will hold a press conference
at the end of her working visit at the Information Centre of the Delegation
of the European Commission (in Ljubljana, Dalmatinova 4) on Monday 23 at
3.30 pm.
[06] First Directive on asylum adopted
The Directive setting norms for temporary protection of refugees in the
event of a mass influx of displaced people has been formally adopted today.
Its purpose is to enable the European Union to act in situations involving
a mass influx of displaced people (such as those from Kosovo two years ago
or Bosnia in the mid-90's) by triggering an immediate protection mechanism;
it will also give access to the financial resources of the European Refugee
Fund. The deal was made on the basis of a Commission proposal dated 24 May
2000 (see IP/00/518), which went through intensive negotiations in the
Council, in particular under the Swedish Presidency. The European
Parliament gave its opinion on 13 March 2001. António Vitorino, the
European Commissioner forJustice and Home Affairs, said: "I particularly
welcome the adoption of this Directive, as it is the first in a series of
initiatives with a humanitarian concern".
[07] Commission opens proceedings against UEFA's selling of TV rights to
UEFA Champions League The European Commission has sent a statement of
objections to European football organisation UEFA challenging UEFA's
current arrangements for the selling of the rights to televise the UEFA
Champions League. The Commission is concerned that UEFA's commercial policy
of selling all the free and pay-TV rights on an exclusive basis to a single
broadcaster per territory for a period lasting several years may be
incompatible with EC competition law and should be improved to ensure that
European sports fans can benefit from a wider coverage of top European
football events.
[08] Mai 200. La production industrielle en baisse de 0,1% dans la zone
euro; baisse de 0,2% dans l'UE15 La production industrielle de la zone euro,
ajustée des variations saisonnières, a baissé de 0,1% au mois de mai par
rapport au mois d'avril, selon les estimations publiées aujourd'hui par
Eurostat. Ceci fait suite à des baisses de respectivement 0,7% en avril et
0,3% en mars. La production de l'UE15 a baissé de 0,2% en mai, après avoir
enregistré des baisses de respectivement 0,8% en avril et 0,2% en mars.
L'élaboration des indices a fait l'objet de certaines améliorations. D'une
part, l'information est maintenant disponible au niveau de cinq secteurs
(biens intermédiaires, biens d'investissement, biens de consommation
durables, biens de consommation non durables et énergie) au lieu de quatre.
En mai, la production industrielle a augmenté en Finlande (2,4%), en
Espagne (1,2%), au Luxembourg (0,8%), en France et en Italie (0,3% chacun).
Des baisses ont été observées aux Pays-Bas(-4,2%), au Danemark (-2,0%), en
Allemagne (-1,2%), au Royaume-Uni (-0,9%), au Portugal (-0,6%) et en
Belgique (-0,1%). Le volume de la production industrielle a baissé en mai
2001 de 0,1% dans la zone euro et de 0,5% dans l'UE15 par rapport au mois
de mai 2000.
[09] Bond issuance in euro returned to more normal levels in 2nd quarter
2001
After having reached record highs in the previous quarter bond issuance in
euro returned to more normal levels in 2nd quarter 2001 Nevertheless, the
overall supply of euro-denominated bonds to the market remained strong. The
strength of supply reflected, in particular, a continued flow of corporate
and financial-sector borrowing amid unfavourable conditions for raising
capital in the equity markets. Issuance totalled €370 billion, implying a
substantial decline from the record-breaking total of €440 billion in the
previous quarter. Nevertheless, second-quarter issuance compared favourably
to the €330 billion recorded in the same period of 2000. Sovereigns
remained the dominant issuers in euro. However, financial and corporate
issuers have consolidated their position in the market and have overtaken
issuers of asset-backed securities (e.g. Pfandbriefe). Market opportunities
for low-rated issuers from the corporate sector have expanded, as overall
issuing conditions remain favourable relative to the second half of 2000.
The full quarterly report on the euro-denominated bond markets can be found
on: http://europa.eu.int/comm/economy_finance/document/eurobond/eurobondidx_en.htm
[10] Commission re-opens proceedings concerning the German system of fixed
book prices because of its effects on cross-border Internet bookselling The
European Commission has adopted a statement of objections to certain
practices of German publishers and book-wholesalers regarding the
application of the so-called "Sammelrevers" system of fixed book prices to
direct cross-border sales of books to final consumers. It has come to the
preliminary conclusion that the way the "Sammelrevers" has been applied is
not compatible with the understanding reached between the Commission and
the German publishers and booksellers in spring of 2000 on the future
application of this system. This understanding was aimed at bringing the
"Sammelrevers" in line with Community law by ensuring that its application
has no appreciable effects on trade between Member States leading to an
infringement of the competition rules of the EC Treaty. On the one hand,
the Commission preliminarily finds that, contrary to the above-mentioned
understanding, direct cross-border sales of books to final consumers via
the Internet at a price other than the fixed price for Germany have been
systematically regarded as a circumvention of the system. On the other hand,
the Commission preliminarily finds that the refusals by certain German
publishers and book-wholesalers to supply Internet booksellers established
outside of Germany to prevent direct cross-border sales of books to
consumers at a price other than the fixed price for Germany were based on
illegal collusion and therefore also infringe the competition rules.
[11] Commission initiates detailed probe into merger between steel
producers Usinor and Arbed/Aceralia The European Commission has decided to
launch an in-depth investigation under the ECSC Treaty into the planned
merger of France's Usinor S.A., Aceralia Corporación Siderúrgica S.A. of
Spain and Luxembourg-based Arbed S.A., which would create the world's
biggest steel company. The Commission's initial one-month review suggests
that there are serious competition concerns arising from the companies'
strong position in a number of steel markets. At the same time the
Commission has cleared the non-ECSC aspects of the case which constitute
only a small part of the parties activities.
[12] La Commission salue l'adoption de la directive relative au droit de
suite au profit de l'auteur d'une œuvre d'art La Commission européenne
constate avec satisfaction l'adoption par le Conseil des Ministres de
l'Union européenne de la directive relative au droit de suite au profit de
l'auteur d'une œuvre d'art. Après le Parlement européen (le 3 juillet), le
Conseil des Ministres vient d'approuver le résultat de la procédure de
conciliation entre le Parlement et le Conseil. Cette directive permettra
aux artistes de bénéficier de ce droit quel que soit l'endroit dans l'Union
où sont vendues leurs œuvres. De plus, cette directive fournira à la
Commission une base pour promouvoir la reconnaissance du droit de suite au
niveau international. La Commission regrette, cependant, que les délais
d'application prévus soient exceptionnellement longs 1er janvier 2006 et
que certains Etats Membres puissent disposer d'un délai supplémentaire de 4
ans avant d'appliquer certaines dispositions de cette directive. Ces délais
pourraient donc aboutir à différer de 10 ans le plein effet de
l'harmonisation recherchée. La Commission souhaite souligner que ces délais
sont exceptionnels et doivent le rester pour préserver l'efficacité de
l'action communautaire dans le cadre du marché intérieur.
[13] Stricter labelling requirements for sausages and preserved meat
products
The Standing Committee on Foodstuffs today endorsed a proposal from the
European Commission which tightens up the definition of the term "meat" for
the labelling of pre-packed meat-based products such as cooked meats,
prepared dishes and canned meat(1). The only current Community definition
of meat makes no distinction between muscle-meat, fat and offal, whereas
consumers generally perceive meat to mean muscle-meat. The existing system
is therefore not satisfactory, and a number of Member States had already
adopted their own definition of meat for labelling purposes.
[14] La Commission européenne et les compagnies aériennes promeuvent les
accords volontaires pour améliorer le traitement des passagers
A l'issue de la rencontre d'aujourd'hui entre Loyola de Palacio, vice-
présidente de la Commission européenne en charge des transports et de
l'énergie, et des dirigeants de l'Association of European Airlines (AEA),
les deux parties se sont félicitées des accords volontaires proposés par
les compagnies aériennes. Ces accords permettront une mise en oeuvre rapide
d'engagements pour améliorer la vie quotidienne des passagers aériens,
notamment en termes d'assistance, de droit à l'information et de règlement
des contentieux. Les représentants de l'AEA se sont engagés à soumettre ces
accords à la signature de leurs membres dans les plus brefs délais. Une
liste complète des compagnies engagées sera publiée pour le 14 février
2002.
[15] Commission clears acquisition of Dresdner Bank by Allianz AG
In view of remedies offered by the parties concerned, the Commission has
given the go-ahead for the Allianz insurance group to take over Dresdner
Bank. The Commission's investigations focused on the consequences of the
creation of a strong 'bancassurance' group and the impact of the planned
takeover on the relationship between the new Allianz/Dresdner group and the
Münchener Rück/Ergo group, a major competitor.
Autre matériel diffusé
[16] Joint EU Presidency and European Commission statement on the opening
of the high-level negotiations on Climate Change in Bonn
[17] Preparation of the Agriculture Council of July 2001
[18] The UEFA Champions League
[19] Fact sheet on dioxin in feed and food
(1)Commission Directive amending Directive 2000/13/EC of the European
Parliament and of the Council on the approximation of the laws of the
Member States relating to the labelling, presentation and advertising of
foodstuffs.
MIDDAY EXPRESS
From EUROPA, the European Commission Server at http://europa.eu.int/
© ECSC - EC - EAEC, Brussels-Luxembourg, 1995, 1996
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