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European Commission Spokesman's Briefing for 97-01-17
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 Porte-Paroleb
17/01/1997
CONTENTS / CONTENU
[01] British Airways - American Airlines: "I hope we will find a solution
that completely satisfies European competition worries", says Karel Van
Miert
[02] Mario Monti se f�licite de l'adoption d�finitive de la directive sur
les virements transfrontaliers
[03] 10,9% de ch�meurs dans l'UE en novembre
[04] Infractions: non respect du r�gime des accises sur les boissons non-
alcoolis�es par la Belgique
[05] Infractions: mauvaise application de la 6�me directive TVA par
l'Italie, la France, l'Allemagne et l'Autriche
[06] Infractions: Italie - taxe de recyclage sur le poly�thyl�ne -
pellicules plastiques
[07] Commission confirms commitment in new areas of support for the New
Independent States: justice and home affairs; and WTO accession
[08] Franz Fischler: agriculture policy and rural development go together
[09] Christos Papoutsis: "Tourism can create jobs rapidly"
[01] British Airways - American Airlines: "I hope we will find a solution
that completely satisfies European competition worries", says Karel Van
Miert
In relation to the ongoing debate about the announced alliance between
British Airways and American Airlines, Competition Competition Karel Van
Miert states: "Under European competition rules, enshrined in the Treaty,
the European Commission has full jurisdiction to scrutinise alliances such
as the one between British Airways and American Airlines. Presently, a
series of such alliances involving other european and north-american
carriers are also undergoing a similar analysis. We will pursue the
Commission's proceedings to their full end. As announced in the letter sent
to Mr Ian Lang on Friday 10 of January, if , prior to our own conclusions,
the British authorities were to take a decision that does not completely
meet the Commission's concerns regarding competition aspects, we will have
to refer the case to the European Court of Justice. Claiming that there is
no european dimension to the file, in fact fundamentally questions the
existing common policy in the air transportation sector and contradicts the
very principles of the single market in this crucial area. I do sincerely
hope that it will still be possible, in the spirit of full cooperation
between the Commission and the Member States as imposed by the Treaty to
find a fully adequate reply to all the competition concerns expressed by
the Commission. I would like to recall, in this context, that in its
ongoing analysis of the Lufthansa/United Airlines alliance, the German
authorities involved fully cooperate with my Department."
[02] Mario Monti se f�licite de l'adoption d�finitive de la directive sur
les virements transfrontaliers
M. Mario Monti, membre de la Commission charg� du march� int�rieur et des
services financiers, s'est f�licit� de l'adoption d�finitive de la
directive sur les virements transfrontaliers qui permettra d'effectuer ces
virements de mani�re plus fiable et plus rapide. A la suite de la
conclusion positive de la proc�dure de conciliation entre le Parlement
europ�en et le Conseil de l�Union, la directive a �t� approuv�e par le
Parlement europ�en r�uni en session pl�ni�re le 16 janvier � Strasbourg.
Ce texte ayant �t� approuv� par le Conseil des Ministres le 19 d�cembre, la
directive est donc maintenant d�finitivement approuv�e et doit �tre mise en
oeuvre par les Etats membres dans un d�lai de 30 mois.
[03] 10,9% de ch�meurs dans l'UE en novembre
Le taux de ch�mage de l'Union europ�enne, corrig� des variations
saisonni�res, s'est stabilis� � 10,9% en novembre 1996, selon les chiffres
publi�s aujourd'hui par Eurostat, l'Office statistique des Communaut�s
europ�ennes � Luxembourg. Ce taux est identique � celui enregistr� au cours
des sept mois pr�c�dents. Au mois de novembre 1995, le taux de ch�mage
s'�levait � 10,8%, en novembre 1994 � 10,9%. Selon Eurostat, les baisses
les plus significatives du taux de ch�mage de novembre 1995 � novembre 1996
ont �t� enregistr�es, au Royaume-Uni (de 8,6% � 7,5%), au Danemark (de 6,6%
� 5,5%), en Finlande (de 16,2% � 15,3%), en Belgique (de 10,0% � 9,5%) et
en Irlande (de 12,4% � 11,9%). Pendant la m�me p�riode, le taux a augment�
de 8,5% � 9,3% en Allemagne et de 11,8% � 12,5% en France. Le Luxembourg
(3,3%) et l'Autriche (4,0%) ont conserv� les taux les plus bas, l'Espagne
(22,3%) et la Finlande (15,3%) les taux les plus �lev�s.
[04] Infractions: non respect du r�gime des accises sur les boissons non-
alcoolis�es par la Belgique
La Commission europ�enne a d�cid� d'envoyer un avis motiv� � la Belgique
(la deuxi�me �tape de la proc�dure d'infraction) sur la base de l'article
169 du Trait� pour la violation du droit communautaire concernant le r�gime
des accises. La Belgique impose une proc�dure lourde lors du
franchissement d'une fronti�re int�rieure d'un produit qui n'est pas soumis
� une accise harmonis�e comme, par exemple, les boissons non-alcoolis�es.
[05] Infractions: mauvaise application de la 6�me directive TVA par
l'Italie, la France, l'Allemagne et l'Autriche
La Commission europ�enne a d�cid�, sur la base de l'article 169 du Trait�
CE, de saisir la Cour de justice � l'encontre de la R�publique italienne,
de la R�publique fran�aise et de la R�publique f�d�rale d'Allemagne pour
mauvaise application de la TVA � certaines op�rations. Par ailleurs, dans
deux autres cas, la Commission a d�cid� l'envoi d'un avis motiv� � l'Italie
et � l'Autriche pour non-communication des mesures d'application de la
directive portant nouvelles mesures de simplification en mati�re de TVA.
[06] Infractions: Italie - taxe de recyclage sur le poly�thyl�ne -
pellicules plastiques
La Commission europ�enne a d�cid�, sur la base de l'article 169 du Trait�
CE, de saisir la Cour de justice � l'encontre de la R�publique italienne,
car le pr�l�vement sp�cial de 10% appliqu� au poly�thyl�ne ("contributo di
riciclaggio sul polietilene") frappe les produits en provenance d'autres
Etats membres plus lourdement que les produits nationaux similaires.
[07] Commission confirms commitment in new areas of support for the New
Independent States: justice and home affairs; and WTO accession
The European Commission concluded a successful Tacis National Coordinators'
meeting yesterday by emphasising its intended cooperation and support in
two new areas: justice and home affairs and multilateral trade. The
Coordinators' meeting is a focal point in the Tacis calendar which brings
together some 25 government representatives responsible for the planning
and implementation of the European Union's Tacis Programme.
[08] Franz Fischler: agriculture policy and rural development go together
In his opening speech at the International Green Week 1997 in Berlin,
Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler stated that the prime goal in
relation to rural areas, namely sustainable development, demanded a single,
cohesive policy that would be tailored to the needs of the individual
regions. There was no intention of replacing the Common Agricultural
Policy (CAP) by a strengthened rural development policy, on the contrary,
the aim was optimal cooperation between the two. For the immediate future,
he said, the main challenge for the CAP is the reform of the milk and beef
sectors. A detailed market analysis is currently carried out by the
Commission, along the guiding principles of guaranteeing an economically
stable, quality oriented production and taking advantage of all available
market opportunities.
[09] Christos Papoutsis: "Tourism can create jobs rapidly"
Addressing the Travel and Tourism World Summit in Algarve on "Jobs for the
Millenium", Tourism Commissioner Christos Papoutsis stressed the importance
of tourism in economic development and in particular in the labour market.
The European Union's primary goal is to reduce unemployment by developing
new services and consolidating the position of established service sectors.
Tourism can create jobs rapidly, at relatively low cost, in line with the
flexibility associated with the development of SMEs generally. It can
create jobs for varied groups of people, including women and young people,
who find getting jobs especially difficult as well as creating jobs in less
developed and peripheral regions.
MIDDAY EXPRESS
From EUROPA, the European Commission Server at http://europa.eu.int/
© ECSC - EC - EAEC, Brussels-Luxembourg, 1995, 1996
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