Official Journal of the European Communities Debates of the European Parliament 1998/99 Session. Report of proceedings from 16 to 20 November 1998

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• Publié par: EUROPEAN-COMMISSION
• Nombre de lectures: 26
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 10 Mo

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ISSN 0378-5041
Annex Official Journal
of the
European Communities
No 4-528
English edition Debates of the European Parliament
1998/99 Session
Report of proceedings
from 16 to 20 November 1998
Europe House, Strasbourg
General contents Sitting of Monday, 16 November 1998
1. Resumption of the session, p. 1 - 2. Approval of the Minutes, p. 1-3. Order of busi­
ness, p. 3 - 4. MED Programmes, p. 5 - 5. Combating fraud - Protection of the euro -
Action against organised crime, p. 10 - 6. Safer use of Internet, p. 19-7. Clinical tri­
als, p. 22
Sitting of Tuesday, 17 November 1998 29
1. Approval of the Minutes, p. 31 -. Decision on urgent procedure, p. 32 - 3. Court
of Auditors annual report, p. 32 - 4. Employment in the Union, p. 44 - 5. Social action
programme 1998-2000, p. 55 - 6. VOTES, p. 55 - 7. Social action programme 1998-
2000 (continuation), p. 62 - 8. Social dialogue, p. 68 - 9. New Transatlantic
Marketplace, p. 73 - 10. Question Time (Commission), p. 84 - 11. Budget lines for
human rights, p. 98 - 12. Patents, p. 104 - 13. Supplementary pensions, p. 106 -
14. Vehicles with more than 8 seats, p. 111 - 15. Aerospace industry, p. 113-16. Euro
coins, p. 118
Sitting of Wednesday, 18 November 1998 170
1. Approval of the Minutes, p.1 - 2. Agenda 2000, p. 172 - 3. Welcome, p. 179 -
4. Pre-accession strategy, p.9 - 5. Welcome, p. 191 - 6. VOTES, p. 192 -
7. Welcome, p. 193 - 8. VOTES (continuation), p. 193 - 9. Welcome, p. 194 -
10. VOTES (continuation), p. 194 - 11. Pre-accession strategy (continuation), p. 207 -
12. Structural Funds, p. 211 - 13. Situation in Central America and EU action,
p. 229 - 14. Developments in Middle East peace process, p. 237 - 15. Structural Funds
(continuation), p. 245 - 16. CAP, EAGGF, p. 256 NOTE TO READER
Parallel editions will also be appearing in the following official languages of the Union:
Danish. German, Greek, Spanish, French. Italian. Dutch. Portuguese. Finnish and
Swedish. The English edition contains the original texts of the interventions in English
and an English translation, provided by freelance translators, of those made in other
languages. In these cases, the following letters appear in brackets after the name of the
speaker to indicate the language spoken: (DA) for Danish. (DE) for German. (EL) for
Greek, (ES) for Spanish, (ER) for French, (IT) for Italian, (NL) for Dutch, (PT) for
Portuguese, (EI) for Finnish and (SV) for Swedish.
The original texts of these interventions appear in the edition published in the language
spoken.
Dntents (continued) Sitting of Thursday, 19 November 1998 277
1. Statement by the President, p.9 - 2. VOTES, p. 280 - 3. Displaced persons,
p. 297 - 4. Topical and urgent debate, p. 305 - 5. VOTES, p. 320 - 6. Displaced per­
sons (continuation), p. 323 - 7. Visas/Airport transit, p. 325
Sitting of Friday, 20 November 1998 329
1. Approval of the Minutes, p. 329-2. VOTES, p. 330-3. Illicit manufacture of drugs,
p. 332 - 4. WTO: financial services, p. 336 - 5. Book pricing in Germany and Austria,
p. 338 - 6. Adjournment of the session, p. 345
Abbreviations used for Political Groups as shown following the name of the speaker
(PSE) Group of the Party of the European Socialists
(PPE)p of the European People"s Party (Christian-Democratic Group)
(UPE)p of the Union for Europe
(ELDR) Group of the European Liberal Democratic and Reformist Party
(GUE/NGL) Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left
(V) Green Group in the European Parliament
(ARE) Group of the European Radical Alliance
(I-EDN)p of Independents for a Europe of Nations
(NI) Non-attached Members
Resolutions adopted at the sitting of 16-20.11.1998 appear in the Official Journal
of the European Communities C379 of 20.11.1998 Debates of the European Parliament No 4-528/1 16.11.98
SITTING OF MONDAY, 16 NOVEMBER 1998
Contents
1. Resumption of the session - 1
2. Approval of the Minutes
Janssen van Raay, Striby, Carnero González, Pompidou, Nassauer, Killilea,
Guinebertière, Puerta, Thomas, Lindqvist
3. Order of business
Posselt, Dell'Alba, Oomen-Ruijten, Graenitz, Spencer, Aelvoet, Colino Salamanca,
Rosado Fernandes, Graefe zu Baringdorf 3
4. MED Programmes
Fabra Vallés, Wemheuer, Theato, Kjer Hansen, Pompidou, Miranda, Holm,
Dell'Alba, Fabre-Aubrespy, Sarlis, Liikanen (Commission) 5
5. Combating fraud - Protection of the euro - Action against organised crime
Schmid, Cederschiöld, Michalek (Council), Mendes Bota, Schaffner, Svensson,
SchÖrling, Pradier, Buffetaut, Hager, Ford, Pirker, Gallagher, Vanhecke, Schmid,
Pomés Ruiz, Liikanen (Commission) 10
6. Safer use of Internet
Schmid, Iversen, Cederschiöld, Thors, Dupuis, Ford, De Esteban Martin, Neyts-
Uyttebroeck, Liikanen (Commission), Schmid9
7. Clinical trials
Amadeo, Heinisch, Needle, Valverde López, Dybkjær, Cabrol, Ephremidis, Breyer,
Correia, Liese, Poggiolini, Schleicher, Trakatellis, Liikanen (Commission) 22
IN THE CHAIR: MR GIL-ROBLES Janssen van Raay (UPE). - (NL) I should like it to be ex­
plicitly recorded in the Minutes that I said in Brussels that
President
it is not only for reasons of principle that I am no longer
voting in roll-call votes - which I have not done for some
(The sitting was opened at 5.05 p.m.)
time -, but also for taxation reasons. I repeat: Dutch taxa­
tion reasons. I should like this to be recorded.
1. Resumption of the session
President - Thank you, Mr Janssen van Raay, that will
be done.
President - I declare resumed the session of the Euro­
pean Parliament adjourned on Thursday, 5 November Striby (I-EDN). - (FR) Mr President, I do not want to
1998. speak about the Minutes, but I would like to ask you when
the new parliament will be completed. Is the IPE4, which
is still a 'forbidden city', something out of a science fic­
2. Approval of the Minutes
tion novel? We are still here today in this lovely Hémicy­
cle, which we are, of course, attached to, since we cannot
President - The Minutes of the sitting of Thursday,
sit in the new building. We hear rumours here and we
5 November 1998 have been distributed.
wait. When will the inaugural sitting be held? Will it be in
Are there any comments? December, February or the summer of 1999? No 4-528/2 Debates of the European Parliament 16.11.98
Striby
Why are there such delays? We accept the argument that thy of commendation. However, it must be undertaken on
the complex process of moving in must be as well organ­ an individual level. It is not for a parliamentary body to
ised as possible, but I sincerely hope that it not a matter launch it, though every assistance and support should of
once again of politicking against Strasbourg. Mr Presi­ course be offered.
dent, we expect a clear response explaining all this waver­
Pompidou (UPE). - (FR) Mr President, I would like to
ing that damages Parliament's image of rigour, efficiency
speak at this public sitting this evening in my capacity as
and credibility.
chairman of Parliament's Delegation for relations with
Japan. In the framework of the bilateral exchanges and President - What I can tell you, Mr Striby, is that the
meetings organised by the European Parliament, particu­building is not yet ready for occupation. Clearly, the com­
larly by Parliament's sessional services, we are receiving pany which had the task of constructing of the building
an official visit from an important delegation of seven should have made it available to Parliament last January.
members of the Japanese Diet and four members of the Parliament is not responsible for the fact that it is still not
Japanese Senate, including two former ministers, this ready, since it has not yet been certified by the relevant
week in Strasbourg. authorities or the architects. For our part, we are doing our
utmost to cooperate with the city of Strasbourg and the
According to the agenda, there are votes being held on
French Government so that it can be completed as soon as
Thursday morning. But on Thursday morning we also possible, in accordance with the regulations which apply.
have a meeting that is authorised by the sessional serv­
Once this has been done, we shall carry out our share of
ices, which was even organised by Parliament's sessional
the dataprocessing work for Parliament and inaugurate
services, during the votes on Agenda 2000. Therefore, I
the building as soon as possible. However, I cannot give
find myself caught between two stools. This is not a seri­
you a date. That is outside our control.
ous problem for me personally, as I have accepted my re­
sponsibilities and have decided, as chairman of the dele­Carnero González (GUE/NGL). - (ES) Mr President, I
gation, to attend the meeting, but there is a risk that I took the liberty of writing to you last week on the situa­
might be there on my own. Short of cutting themselves in tion in Central America. As each day passes it becomes
two, my colleagues are, in fact, either going to have to ap­clearer that the loss of life and physical damage experi­
pear impolite towards our Japanes