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European Commission Spokesman's Briefing for 00-10-13
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
13/10/2000
CONTENTS / CONTENU
[01] Commission raises concerns regarding partnership between Austrian
Airlines and Lufthansa / SAS
[02] Fusion approuvée selon la procédure simplifiée
[03] Franz Fischler calls for dialogue in farm trade talks
[04] Structural Funds : Commission launches 7-year education, training and
employment package for Germany
[05] Structural Funds : Commission approves Employment and Human Resources
Development Programme for Ireland
[06] La Commission annonce son soutien aux normes internationales lors de
la Journée mondiale de la normalisation
[07] Poul Nielson forced to cancel visit to Middle East
[08] Rencontre Viviane Reding - Gianni Mattioli : création du Centre
italien d'information et documentation sur l'Europe
[09] Fourth online chat with Pascal Lamy : what next for trade policy ?
[10] 'World March of Women' : Anna Diamantopoulou to participate in grand
finale in Brussels, Saturday 14 October, 13h00
[11] La Commission organise une conférence sur la science et la gouvernance
[12] Commission publishes 3rd quarter note on euro-denominated bond markets
[13] Growing consolidation in a profitable sector - EU banking assets 2.5
times GDP in 1998
[01] Commission raises concerns regarding partnership between Austrian
Airlines and Lufthansa / SAS
The European Commission has informed Austrian Airlines (AuA) and STAR
alliance partners Lufthansa and SAS that it has serious concerns about
their recently concluded cooperation agreements. As they currently stand,
the agreements would eliminate competition on a large number of routes
between Austria and Germany and raise similar concerns on the Austrian-
Nordic aviation market.
[02] Fusion approuvée selon la procédure simplifiée
NRC Corporation (USA) / 4Front Technologies, Inc (USA)
[03] Franz Fischler calls for dialogue in farm trade talks
Summing up his trip to Canada, European Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural
Development and Fisheries, Franz Fischler said : "I am satisfied. The
opportunity to explain our WTO position in the light of the special role of
European agriculture was definitely worth being Daniel in the lion's den."
Participating as the first EU Agriculture Commissioner in a Cairns Group
Ministerial Meeting, Mr Fischler called on his colleagues from 18
agriculture exporting countries to have a constructive dialogue in the WTO
farm trade talks. "It is simple. Without consensus there will be no deal",
he said. Mr Fischler also made clear that the EU Common Agriculture Policy
(CAP) underwent substantial reforms in the last decade. "I think that this
fact deserves to be applauded by our friends in the Cairns group and not
ignored. Especially because others like the US prefer to talk while doing
exactly the opposite."
[04] Structural Funds : Commission launches 7-year education, training and
employment package for Germany
The European Commission has approved a euro 4756 million programme of
education, training & employment in Germany, covering a 7-year period. This
"Single Programming Document (SPD)" for Germany sets out the Social Fund
"Objective 3" programme.
[05] Structural Funds : Commission approves Employment and Human Resources
Development Programme for Ireland
The European Commission has adopted a decision approving the 'Operational
Programme' (OP) for Employment and Human Resources Development for Ireland
for the period 2000-2006. For the first time, Ireland has been split into
two regions for Structural Funds allocations : an Objective 1 region,
comprising the Border, Midlands and West counties and an Objective 1 in
transition for the South and East of the country. The Employment and Human
Resource OP is one of seven programmes which will implement the Community
Support Framework (CSF) for Ireland, approved by the Commission in June.
[06] La Commission annonce son soutien aux normes internationales lors de
la Journée mondiale de la normalisation
Chaque année, le 14 octobre, les membres de l'ISO, de la CEI et de l'UIT
célèbrent la Journée mondiale de la normalisation, qui permet de rendre
hommage aux travaux effectués en collaboration par les milliers d'experts
du monde entier qui élaborent les accords techniques publiés sous forme de
normes internationales.
[07] Poul Nielson forced to cancel visit to Middle East
With restrictions on movement and access and in view of the security
situation in the region, the European Commissioner for Development and
Humanitarian Aid, Mr Poul Nielson, will no longer be travelling to Lebanon,
the West Bank and the Gaza Strip from 13-15 October. Combining both his
development and humanitarian aid portfolios, Mr Nielson had been due to
visit projects and Palestinian refugee camps receiving EU funding and to
meet with Lebanese, Palestinian and Israeli authorities. The cancellation
of the trip means that Mr Nielson will not officially open the mainly EU
funded Gaza hospital as planned on 15 October. The hospital has been open
to out-patients since 15 July this year and has recently started admitting
in-patients. Mr Nielson declared : "I look forward to visiting the region
as soon as circumstances permit to see for myself the benefits for local
populations and refugees of EU humanitarian aid and development funds. I am
particularly satisfied that the Gaza hospital is now operational. With a
capacity of 240 beds, it will make a much needed supplement to the existing
facilities which were grossly inadequate." Total EC contributions and
European Investment Bank assistance between 1995 and 1999 for the Gaza
Strip and West Bank amount to euro 666 million, and euro 384 million for
the Lebanon. Last week, the Humanitarian Aid Office of the Commission, ECHO
made euro 90,000 available as a first response to the current troubles in
West Bank and Gaza. These funds will allow the despatch of specialised
surgery assistance to help the Palestinian medical team. To further respond
to emergency appeals, it is expected that the Commission will mobilise an
additional package of euro 600,000 to cover the provision of ambulances and
the financing of essential medical supplies and emergency kits.
[08] Rencontre Viviane Reding - Gianni Mattioli : création du Centre
italien d'information et documentation sur l'Europe
Le "Centre italien d'information et documentation sur l'Europe est
désormais une réalité. Avant la fin de l'année le Gouvernement italien et
la Commission européenne signeront les actes permettant sa mise en place".
C'est ce qu'ont annoncé le Commissaire pour l'Education et la Culture, Mme
Viviane Reding, et le Ministre pour les Politiques communautaires italien,
M. Gianni Mattioli, à la fin de leur rencontre à Rome.
[09] Fourth online chat with Pascal Lamy : what next for trade policy ?
On Monday 16th October at 1800 Central European Time, the fourth online
chat with Pascal Lamy, European Commissioner responsible for Trade, will
take place. The chat provides an opportunity to take part in a debate with
the leader of the European Union's negotiating team on multilateral trade
issues.
[10] 'World March of Women' : Anna Diamantopoulou to participate in grand
finale in Brussels, Saturday 14 October, 13h00
Women from over 145 countries are organising world march events in support
of gender equality and an end to poverty. The world march will culminate in
a gathering on 17 October 2000 in front of the United Nations in New York
where women will present their demands to Kofi Annan. In the run-up to the
New York event, marches will also take place in Europe. Here in Belgium,
women will depart from six border points and march towards Brussels. People
will be encouraged to join the march en route and participate in the
activities organised around the march. On 14 October a major gathering will
be held in the Parc Cinquantenaire, Brussels, with music, theatre,
information and workshops. The demands of the marchers will be presented to
European Commission President Romano Prodi.
[11] La Commission organise une conférence sur la science et la gouvernance
Le Centre Commun de Recherche et la Direction Générale Recherche de la
Commission européenne organisent les 16 et 17 octobre une conférence
portant sur les relations entre les scientifiques et le citoyen. La
conférence abordera ces questions dans une perspective tant européenne
qu'internationale. Quatre sessions parallèles permettront d'approfondir des
angles particuliers : "science, citoyens et processus de décision" ;
"anticiper les risques : prospectives et recherche de précaution" ; "faire
face à l'urgence des crises : alerte précoce et réponse rapide" ; "vers un
système européen de référence scientifique et technique dans un contexte
global". La séance de clôture le 17 octobre à partir de 10h45 comprendra
notamment le discours du Commissaire à la Recherche Philippe Busquin sur
l'Espace Européen de la Recherche et la gouvernance.
[12] Commission publishes 3rd quarter note on euro-denominated bond markets
Issuance in euro-denominated bonds in the third quarter of 2000 declined
relative to issuance in the previous quarters and in the third quarter last
year. EU sovereign issuers continued their retreat from the market in the
third quarter, as their borrowing requirements were adjusted down. There
was also a reduction in issues from the pfandbriefe sector. In contrast,
there was a further expansion in corporate issuance, together with a shift
away from telecom issuers. A prominent new borrower on the euro bond market
- Freddie Mac of the US - is the featured topic in this report, underlining
the appeal of the euro bond market also for non-euro area issuers. Copies
of the report can be found in the internet: http://europa.eu.int/comm/economy_finance/document/financialmrkt/financialmrkt_en.htm
[13] Growing consolidation in a profitable sector - EU banking assets 2.5
times GDP in 1998
(! embargo 12 am !) Eurostat published today - in electronic version only -
a study on the European banking sector, which is the latest of a new series
of publications entitled 'Special feature'. The trend to concentration has
continued in the EU in 1998 with the number of credit institutions
decreasing by 4%. Although banks only accounted for about 2% of total
employment, they controlled a major share of assets in the EU economies.
Their aggregated balance sheets represented about 2.6 times the GDP of the
EU in 1998. Traditional banking was still the major source of revenues for
the credit institutions, but diversification to products and services
generating fee and commission income was gaining ground in most Member
States. The study can be found in the internet: http://europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat/Public/datashop/print-
catalogue/EN?catalogue=Eurostat&theme=4-Industry%20and%20Commerce
MIDDAY EXPRESS
From EUROPA, the European Commission Server at http://europa.eu.int/
© ECSC - EC - EAEC, Brussels-Luxembourg, 1995, 1996
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