Papoutsis. - (EL) Hr. formand, jeg vil gerne svare det ærede medlem, at Kommissionen faktisk indtil slutningen af 1996 håbede, at Rådet ville vedtage det flerårige program til fordel for den sociale økonomi, og straks efter, i de efterfølgende måneder, troede vi fortsat, at det i de første måneder af 1997 ville blive muligt at få en eventuelt forsinket vedtagelse fra Rådets side, der ville gøre det muligt at udnytte bevillingerne til den sociale økonomi på et retsgrundlag, som Rådet havde accepteret.
Papoutsis. - (EL) Mr President, I would like to respond to the honourable Member of Parliament that, in fact, the European Commission hoped that, before the end of 1996, the Council of Ministers would investigate the long term programme on behalf of the social economy, and immediately afterwards, during the following months, we continued to hope that it would be possible, within the first few months of 1997, to have the go-ahead, albeit somewhat belated, of the Council so that we could use the funds made available for the social economy, on a legal basis which was acceptable to the Council.