----

(2004/C 33 E/209)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2053/03

by Anders Wijkman (PPE-DE), Jules Maaten (ELDR), Robert Evans (PSE), Kathleen Van Brempt (PSE) and Marialiese Flemming (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(20 June 2003)

Subject:   Endangered monk seal

The monk seal (Monachus monachus) is probably the most endangered mammal, not only in Europe but also worldwide. At present, there are fewer than 200 of this particular species of seal living in the coastal waters of Greece and Turkey. As the monk seal is a migratory species, it can be found as much in Greek as in Turkish waters.

Countries which are parties to the Berne, Bonn and CITES Conventions are required to protect not only the plant and animal species referred to in these Conventions but also their biotopes. Furthermore, and pursuant to the Habitat Directive, the monk seal should have the highest degree of protection. Greece is a signatory to all the above Conventions, as is Turkey, except for the Bonn Convention.

Greece has, at least in part, fulfilled its obligations with regard to the protection of the monk seal by creating the Northern Sporades Marine National Park and protected zones around a number of islands in the Aegean.

The Turkish Ministry for the Environment has proposed the creation of five coastal national parks for the protection of the monks seal, but over the years, as a result of resistance from the Turkish Ministries of Tourism and Public Works, the actual establishment of these fully protected areas has again and again been postponed.

The Commission has, in recent decades, been in the vanguard of movements to protect the monk seal.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(7 August 2003)

Monk Seal ‘Monachus monachus’ is granted the status of Species of Community Interest in need of strict protection and requiring the designation of special areas of conservation under the ‘Habitats Directive’ (1) listed in its Annexes II and IV.

Member States are obliged by the ‘Habitats Directive’ to implement several measures in order to guarantee a favourable status of conservation of this species. Most of the sites proposed in the Union for the protection of this species are situated in the Mediterranean Sea, namely in Greece.

Turkey, as a Candidate Country, is urged to align its national legislation on nature protection, as well as to implement in advance the Habitats Directive ... The transposition and implementation of the environmental acquis is part of the revised Accession Partnership with Turkey (2), and this issue will be mentioned, as appropriate, in the context of accession talks relating to the environmental acquis. However, since negotiations have not yet been opened with Turkey, the Commission is not in a position to specify a date by which it would require compliance with such engagements. In the course of 2003 the Commission will organise working level meetings with Turkish Authorities. Nature protection is one of the suggested Topics for these meetings, and opportunity will therefore be provided for increased dialogue on this and other topics related to nature protection.

Regarding in particular the protection of the species ‘Monachus monachus’ under international law, it should be noted that Turkey is already a party to the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal region of the Mediterranean, as the Community is. Turkey has also signed the Specially Protected Areas and Biodiversity Protocol to this Convention, and therefore adheres to the Action Plan for the Management of the Mediterranean Monk Seal that was adopted under the auspices of this Convention. In this framework Turkey is obliged to report to the Convention about the activities undertaken to implement this Action Plan.

It should be recalled that the Community is already a party to a number of International Conventions and Agreements dealing with the protection of Biodiversity. Consequently, the Community applies the decisions taken in these fora, where appropriate. Thus, Member States must comply with the Community legislation including those provisions adopted internationally.

The Commission takes due note of the concerns expressed by the Honourable Members, and will raise this matter at the time of preparing the Community position in the meetings of the multilateral agreements to which both the Community and Turkey are a Contracting Party.

The Commission also points out that, in the ongoing enlargement process, the Community is ensuring that the ten new Member States become Parties to the various environmental agreements to which the Community is a Party, in accordance with the principle of unity of action and representation expressed by the European Court of Justice.

----

(1)  Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora, OJ L 206, 22.7.1992.

(2)OJ L 145, 12.6.2003.

----