WRITTEN QUESTION E-2804/98

by Nikitas Kaklamanis (UPE) to the Commission

(17 September 1998)

Subject: Disastrous fires in Greece

In July and August 1998, the forests of Greece were ravaged by fires which lay waste hundreds of hectares of woodland throughout the country, destroying the last remaining green areas in Attica. Most of the fires were attributed to acts of arson, while accusations were made against at least one Turkish secret service agent, who abruptly flew out of Greece for the Netherlands after he was located by the Greek media.

This appalling disaster, which affected the whole of Greece, has plunged the inhabitants of the burned out areas into despair; their property (houses, cars etc.) also suffered extensive damage owing to the authorities' inability to extinguish the fires.

Will the Commission, therefore, say:

1. what possibilities there are of Commission funding for reafforestation of the regions affected and restoration of the environment,

2. whether it is possible to use Structural Fund resources for the above purposes,

3. whether the Community environmental protection initiatives under the Cohesion Fund can be used for those purposes,

4. whether the Community's URBAN initiative can contribute towards restoring the environment in the areas affected, and

5. whether it has information about the activities of third countries' agents on EU territory and what action it intends to take to trace them (through EUROPOL and the Schengen Information System) and investigate their involvement in acts of arson in Greece?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(23 October 1998)

As already stated in its reply to Written Question E-2437/98(1) from the Honourable Member, the Commission is well informed about the serious fires in Greece this summer. It is fully alive to the need to protect Europe's forests, half of which are classed as fire risk zones. The Community scheme for the protection of forests against fire, adopted by the Council in 1992 and prolonged by Council Regulation (EC) 308/97 of 17 February 1997(2), gives tangible form to the Community's commitment to forest fire prevention.

The general protection plan presented by Greece for the purposes of the scheme, in effect a formal statement of its national forest fire prevention measures, covers action in a number of areas (public awareness, preventive infrastructure, preventive sylviculture, forest surveillance) in collaboration with the relevant partners, including the rural population. Over the period 1992-98 the Commission has granted ECU 18 million for 79 Greek projects in realisation of this general plan through action of the above types. A general assessment of the impact of the scheme and of the specific problems of the countries concerned should be possible in the near future using the data provided by the Community information system on forest fires set up under the 1992 Regulation.

The Guidance Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund has a budget of ECU 176,4 million for forestry measures under regional operational programmes for the period 1994 to 1999. These measures include reconstitution of burnt forest and protection of land against erosion. If the Greek authorities wish to reafforest certain areas affected by the recent fires they can do so under the provisions in force by redeploying funds provided enough remain available.

In 1994 the Commission granted ECU 12 million from the Cohesion Fund for forest and soil protection and reafforestation. At the moment it is examining a request for ECU 31,5 million from the Cohesion Fund for surveillance and fire control facilities for Greek forests.

The locations selected for assistance under the Urban Initiative are densely populated urban zones that should not be affected by forest fires.

National security action taken against the activities of third-country intelligence agents operating on Member States' territories are a matter for the latter. The Commission does not hold information on the activities of agents of non-EU countries and is not involved in any anti-terrorist action that may be carried out by other authorities.

(1) OJ C 50, 22.2.1999, p. 146.

(2) OJ L 51, 21.2.1997.