WRITTEN QUESTION E-2602/02

by Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(18 September 2002)

Subject: Forest fires and budget heading B2-515

Every summer forest fires destroy thousands of hectares of woodland in the EU, especially in Portugal. At EU level, Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92(1) on protection of forests against fire and budget heading B2-515 (Forestry) have in the past represented a visible contribution on the Community's part to combating forest fires. Under budget heading B2-515, Parliament inserted among the remarks a number of objectives, namely financing fire prevention measures in high-risk regions (including firefighting resources), measures for the replanting of burnt areas, submission of projects by local authorities, and the establishment of a European forest fire prevention centre. In the preliminary draft budget for 2003, the Commission inserted an entry providing for the closure of this Community programme. This action runs contrary to the need to protect and extend our forest heritage, given its socio-economic and cultural importance.

Given the above:

- Can the Commission state what projects have been implemented and how the funding under heading B2-515 has been broken down, by Member State and over the last ten years?

- What is the Commission's assessment of the measures carried out under heading B2-515 and of the implementation of Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92?

- On what grounds has this programme been closed? Does the Commission not believe that it needs to be preserved? If not, what measures will it propose at Community level in order to prevent and combat forest fires and their consequences?

(1) OJ L 217, 31.7.1992, p. 3.

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(29 October 2002)

As the Honourable Member points out, Council Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92(1) instituted a Community scheme for the protection of forests against fire in Member State regions at risk, located mainly in the south. This across-the-board Regulation has made the Community contribution to forest fire prevention highly visible.

Under budget heading B2-515, 1 525 projects and 18 national programmes to protect forests against fire were presented between 1992 and 2002; 798 projects and 18 national programmes were approved for a total of EUR 123,6 million.

Broken down by Member State, the appropriations granted were as follows:

>TABLE>

These projects and programmes cover initiatives to combat the causes of forest fires, information campaigns (13 % of the assistance granted), protective infrastructure (tracks, firebreaks, water supply points) and clearing and preventive forestry measures (51 %), fixed and mobile monitoring facilities and training (31 %), fire risk studies (4 %), and setting up forest fire database systems (1 %).

Although the effectiveness of the preventive measures is of course difficult to assess precisely, despite the increase in the number of fires ten-year indicators show:

- a slight reduction in the total area affected by fire;

- a sustained reduction, on average, in the area affected by each fire;

- a reduction, on average, in firefighting response time;

- a reduction in fire duration.

There has therefore been an improvement in Member States' protective measures over the past ten years and this in turn has increased the effectiveness of Community measures, which are supplementary.

In order to provide detailed information on this, a copy of the report from the Commission to Parliament and the Council on the application of Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92 (as stipulated in Article 10(3) of that Regulation) and a copy of the report from the Commission to Parliament and the Council on the application of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3528/86 of 17 November 1986 on the protection of the Community's forests against atmospheric pollution(2) whose measures likewise come under budget heading B2-515 have been sent directly to the Honourable Member and to Parliament's Secretariat.

Following proceedings instituted on 30 April 1997 by Parliament and the corresponding Court of Justice judgment in Joined Cases C-164/97 and C-165/97 European Parliament v Council of the European Union [1999] ECR I-1139, the legal basis of Regulations (EEC) Nos 2158/92 and 3528/86 changed. Both Regulations are now based on EC Treaty Article 175 (environment), instead of Article 37 (agriculture).

Accordingly, on 12 December 2001 the Commission ratified an agreement between the Directorates-General for Agriculture, Enterprise, and the Environment on the future orientation of these measures. The agreement transfers responsibility for a number of forest protection measures, particularly preventive measures in respect of atmospheric pollution, to the Directorate-General for the Environment.

The agreement also provides for the integration of measures to protect forests against the fires about which the Honourable Member is particularly concerned into rural development programmes (RDPs).

Within the framework laid down by the rural development Regulations, Member States may present RDP amendments to the Commission. Provided that those amendments have been presented in good and due form, initiatives relating to forest fire prevention measures can be part-financed from 1 January 2003 onwards.

All of the above explains:

- why the Community forest fire protection scheme introduced by Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92 has been closed;

- and, given the effectiveness of the protective measures and the fact that the Commission regards their continuation as essential, how they can be covered under rural development programmes from 1 January 2003 onwards.

(1) OJ L 217, 31.7.1992, as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 805/2002 of the European Parliament and the Council of 15 April 2002 (OJ L 132, 17.5.2002).

(2) OJ L 326, 21.11.1986, as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 804/2002 of the European Parliament and the Council of 15 April 2002 (OJ L 132, 17.5.2002).