1999 discharge: ECSC budget

The committee adopted the report by Esko Olavi SEPPÄNEN (EUL/NGL, FIN) recommending that the Commission be granted discharge for the implementation of the budget of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) for 1999. The committee recorded its observations in a resolution attached to the report, in which it reiterated the call it had made in the context of the 1998 discharge for the Commission to evaluate to what extent the ECSC had fulfilled the Treaty's objectives of economic expansion, growth in employment and a rising standard of living. It also asked the Commission to gauge the impact of ECSC interest subsidies on the competition situation in the coal industry and their significance compared to the state aids paid by certain Member States. Lastly, while welcoming the Court of Auditors' broadly positive estimate of the Commission's management of the ECSC budget for 1999, the committee stressed the need for the Commission to ensure maximum transparency in the disclosure of data affecting the value of the ECSC's assets, particularly in the approach to the expiry of the ECSC Treaty and the creation of the Research Fund for Coal and Steel. �