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European Commission Spokesman's Briefing for 01-11-27
From: EUROPA, the European Commission Server at <http://europa.eu.int>
Midday Express 27/11/2001
[01] Commission welcomes Council's political agreement on cross-border
payments proposal
The European Commission has welcomed the political agreement reached by the
EU's Council of Internal Market Ministers on the proposed Regulation
according to which charges for bank transactions in the Internal Market
should be the same across borders as within a single Member State. The
political agreement was reached on the evening of 26th November at the
Council's meeting in Brussels. The amendments agreed by the Council were
endorsed by the Commission in the interest of achieving an agreement. Once
the Council has formally adopted its Common Position on the proposal
without discussion at a forthcoming meeting, it will be forwarded to the
European Parliament for its second reading.
[02] Dioxin in feed : David Byrne welcomes adoption by Council of dioxin
limits in feed
European Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner David Byrne today
welcomed the adoption by the Council of a Directive setting legally binding
limits on the presence of dioxin and other contaminants in animal feed. Any
feed or feed material exceeding these strict limits is excluded from the
feed and food chain. The measures on feed are a key element of the
comprehensive strategy the Commission put forward to improve the safety of
feed and food in response to the dioxin contamination problems of the past.
Mr Byrne thanked the Belgian Presidency for facilitating a rapid agreement
on the proposal the Commission put forward in July this year. An equivalent
proposal setting maximum limits in foodstuffs will be adopted by the
Council in the next days.
[03] Pre-accession farm aid for Slovenia : go-ahead payments for euro 6.4
million Sapard programme
The European Commission has today decided to confer the management of
Sapard aid to the Slovenian authorities, enabling Slovenia to commence the
implementation of its Sapard programme. Under this scheme, Slovenia will
now be entitled to euro 6.4 million annually. Payment of the first advance
can now be made (maximum 49% of the annual amount). Slovenia is the third
candidate country to move into the operational stage of the innovative
Sapard initiative. This first decision on the provisional conferral of
management of aid covers the four main measures of the Slovenian Sapard
programme : investments in agricultural holdings, investments in the food
processing industry, economic diversification of farms and, the development
and improvement of rural infrastructure.
[04] Deux ans après la catastrophe de l'Erika, l'UE à l'avant-garde de la
sécurité maritime
Deux ans après le naufrage de l'Erika, l'Union européenne a fait des
progrès considérables pour accroître la sécurité maritime. L'adoption du
paquet de mesures Erika-I et les progrès obtenus sur le paquet Erika-II
sont une étape capitale dans la mise en place des règles efficaces pour
renforcer la sécurité maritime, et lutter contre les risques de marées
noires accidentelles. Grâce à ces mesures, navires sous-normes et poubelles
de la mer ne devraient bientôt plus avoir leur place dans les eaux
européennes d'ici deux ans. "L'Union dispose maintenant de l'un des
meilleurs arsenaux législatifs de sécurité maritime au monde, il est
capital que ces mesures soient mises en place avec la plus grande
détermination et rapidité. La Commission pour sa part s'engage à poursuivre
son effort et à proposer des mesures de suivi pour compléter ces règles et
éloigner le spectre d'un nouvel Erika", a déclaré Loyola de Palacio, Vice-
Présidente en charge de l'Energie et des Transports. Désormais, il revient
aux Etats membres d'appliquer avec détermination les nouvelles règles de
sécurité maritime décidées par l'UE.
[05] Déclaration de Philippe Busquin sur le clonage
Les expériences de clonage thérapeutique menées par la compagnie américaine
Advanced Cell Technology et largement rapportées par la presse, ont amené
la déclaration suivante du Commissaire européen à la Recherche, Philippe
Busquin : "Tout ce qui est scientifiquement possible et techniquement
faisable n'est pas nécessairement désirable ou admissible. Les
développements aux Etats-Unis démontrent l'urgence et l'importance d'un
débat européen et d'une position sur la recherche impliquant les cellules
souches embryonnaires. Ce débat est en cours. Je suis satisfait de l'issue
du vote du Parlement européen de la semaine dernière, qui a confirmé la
proposition de la Commission concernant les règles éthiques du prochain
Programme Cadre de R&D. Le principe de base est d'exclure du financement
communautaire toute recherche visant au clonage reproductif humain, toute
recherche impliquant la création d'embryons à des fins de recherche ou en
vue de l'obtention de cellules souches embryonnaires et toute recherche
visant à la modification héréditaire du patrimoine génétique humain. Ces
règles excluent du financement communautaire le clonage d'embryons, même à
des fins thérapeutiques. Malgré l'annonce des résultats du projet américain,
de nombreuses questions scientifiques restent encore en suspens qui
nécessitent des discussions approfondies avec tous les acteurs impliqués et
en particulier avec le public au sens large. Ceci est précisément le but de
la conférence 'Cellules souches : thérapies pour le futur ?' organisée par
la Commission à l'instigation du Groupe de Haut Niveau pour les Sciences de
la Vie les 18 et 19 décembre. La discussion lors de cette conférence sera
centrée sur les possibilités, les priorités et les difficultés pour la
recherche sur les cellules souches." Pour plus d'informations sur la
conférence : http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/quality-of-life/stemcells.html
[06] EU to observe local elections in Cambodia
The European Commission has adopted a decision to fund the sending of an EU
Election Observation Mission (EOM) to observe the forthcoming commune
elections in Cambodia. These elections scheduled for 3 February 2002 are
the first direct elections of commune councils in the modern history of
Cambodia. Mr Carlos Costa Neves MEP has been appointed as Chief Observer of
the EOM.
[07] Anna Diamantopoulou : "Corporate Social Responsibility is an
investment not just a cost"
European Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou,
speaking to the presidency conference on corporate social responsibility
stressed : "Building good links with local communities and with consumers
is important. Indeed, in a recent survey, 70% of European consumers said
that a company's commitment to social responsibility is important when
buying a product or service. While one in five would be very willing to pay
more for products that are socially and environmentally friendly.
Responsible investing has also seen a surge in popularity. Today in Europe
there are hundreds of ethical funds. Representing more than 10 billion
euro. Of course, by definition, CSR is voluntary. But voluntary action need
not be unilateral. Codes of conduct and voluntary action are more effective
if they are part of a concerted effort by all those concerned. And if they
are properly audited, since a recent survey on corporate codes of conduct
highlighted that a third of companies had no arrangements for monitoring
implementation."
[08] Anna Diamantopoulou : "Our European economy needs economic growth of
1.5 to 2% a year just to keep employment at the same level"
European Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou
warned at her speech to the 9th annual employment week conference in
Brussels that : "As things currently look, unemployment will almost
certainly rise somewhat over the coming months. Although with the
expectation and certainly the hope that growth will begin to recover more
strongly during the coming year to at least bring unemployment back down
again to current levels. This is important, but not good enough if we are
to achieve the full employment goals at Lisbon last year. We have agreed on
the employment rate target of 70% for the EU as a whole by the end of the
decade. For this, we need to get back onto a path of at least 3 per cent a
year economic growth as soon as possible."
[09] Telecom liberalisation - Press conference by Erkki Liikanen
Tomorrow 28 November at 11.00 am CET, European Enterprise Commissioner
Erkki Liikanen will present the contents of the Commission's 7th annual
report on the implementation by the EU Member States of EU Telecommunications
Regulations. The report will provide a thorough analysis of the market
situation for telecoms and a detailed assessment of the state of play in
each of the 15 Member States regarding their implementation of the EU
regulatory framework. The report will focus on issues such as
liberalisation, tariffs (fixed lines, leased lines, mobiles), internet
penetration rates and local access. The press conference will take place in
the Commission's press room - at the Breydel Building in Brussels.
[10] Conférence Internationale sur la Prévention et le Contrôle de la
Fièvre aphteuse (12-13/12)
Dans le cadre de la présidence de l'Union europénne, la Belgique organise,
en collaboration avec la Commission européenne, les Pays-Bas et le Royaume-
Uni, une conférence internationale consacrée à la prévention et au contrôle
de la fièvre aphteuse devant permettre de dégager les enseignements de
l'épizootie qui a touché récemment quatre pays de l'UE et de préciser les
aspects de la réglementation actuelle qu'il conviendrait de modifier.
[11] Merger approved under the simplified procedure
Posten AB (S) / De Sammenslutte Vognmaend (DK) / DSV Transport Holding
Innland AS (NL)
[12] Autre matériel diffusé
Note sur les résultats du Conseil Marché intérieur
Speech by Romano Prodi : "Europe at a crossroad" at the Bertelsmann Forum
(Gütersloh, ! embargo 4.30 pm !)
Discours de Mme de Palacio lors de la présentation du Livre Blanc sur la
politique européenne des transports à la Journée sur le Livre Blanc
Speech by Anna Diamantopoulou : "Skills, jobs and tourism" at the debate
with European Parliament Tourism Group
Speech by David Byrne : "A clear need for pandemic preparedness plans on
influenza" at a Conference on Preparedness Planning in the Community
Influenza and other Health Threats
Speech by Pascal Lamy : "Global Policy without Democracy ?" at the
Conference on the Participation and Interface of Parliamentarians and Civil
Societies for Global Policy (26/11, Berlin)
Speech by Pascal Lamy : "The Multilateral Trading System and Globlal
Governance after Doha" at the DGAP (Deutsche Gesellschaft f. Auswärtige
Politik) German Council on Foreign Relations
From EUROPA, the European Commission Server at http://europa.eu.int/
© ECSC - EC - EAEC, Brussels-Luxembourg, 1995, 1996
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