إرشادات مقترحات البحث معلومات خط الزمن الفهارس الخرائط الصور الوثائق الأقسام

مقاتل من الصحراء

         



138

Final Act

  1. Declaration on the Overseas Countries and Territories
    The Conference recognises  that the special arrangements for the association of the overseas countries and territories (OCTs) under Part Four of the Treaty establishing the European Community were designed for countries and territories that were numerous, covered vast areas and had large populations.The arrangements have changed little since 1957.
    The Conference notes that there are today only 20 OCTs and that they are extremely scattered island territories with a total population of approximately 900 000.Moreover, most OCTs lag far behind in structural terms, a fact linked to their particularly severe geographical and economic handicaps.In these circumstances, the special arrangements for association as they were conceived in 1957 can no longer deal effectively with the challenges of OCT development.
    The Conference solemnly restates that the purpose of association is to promote the economic and social development of the countries and territories and to establish close economic relations between them and the Community as a whole.
    The Conference invites the Council, acting in accordance with the provisions of Article 136 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, to review the association arrangements by February 2000 with the fourfold objective of:

 

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promoting the economic and social development of the OCTs more effectively;

 

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developing economic relations between the OCTs and the European Union;

 

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taking greater account of the diversity and specific characteristics of the individual OCTs, including aspects relating to freedom of establishment;

 

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ensuring that the effectiveness of the financial instrument is improved.

  1. Declaration on public credit institutions in Germany
    The Conference notes the Commission's opinion to the effect that the Community's existing competition rules allow services of general economic interest provided by public credit institutions existing in Germany and the facilities granted to them to compensate for the costs connected with such services to be taken into account in full.In this context, the way in which Germany enables local authorities to carry out their task of making available in their regions a comprehensive and efficient financial infrastructure is a matter for the organisation of that Member State.Such facilities may not adversely affect the conditions of competition to an extent beyond that required in order to perform these particular tasks and which is contrary to the interests of the Community.
    The Conference recalls that the European Council has invited the Commission to examine whether similar cases exist in the other Member States, to apply as appropriate the same standards on similar cases and to inform the Council in its ECOFIN formation.
1/1/1900