EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 84/602

(2004/C 84 E/0677)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0485/04

by Daniel Varela Suanzes-Carpegna (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(23 February 2004)

Subject: EU forest strategy: ‘Forest Focus’

Fires are one of the main causes of desertification and loss of biodiversity in European forests. The fires which broke out last year caused genuinely traumatic situations in the Member States affected, but there are few Community measures in place to combat the problem, which is becomingly increasingly widespread. The new ‘Forest Focus’ regulation on the monitoring of forests is virtually the only genuinely ‘Community’ instrument geared to combating fires, since corresponding rural development actions are carried out in isolation and are not structured at European level.

Will the Commission make good this deficit in its forthcoming report on the EU's forest strategy?

If so, can it list the measures that are being considered?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(31 March 2004)

Forest fire prevention measures are currently supported by Regulation (EC) No 2152/2003 of the Parliament and of the Council of 17 November 2003 concerning the monitoring of forests and environmental interactions in the Community (Forest Focus) (1)) and by the Rural Development Regulation (Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 of 17 May 1999 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) (2)).

The forest fire prevention measures included in the Forest Focus and Rural Development Regulations must conform to the forest fire protection plans of the Member States and take, thereby, into account the specific priorities and needs of the different regions. Moreover, the forestry measures of the Rural Development Regulation provide an integrated approach to sustainable forest management. As such, this approach considers forest fire prevention, in areas of high and medium fire risk, as an indispensable element in the development of silvicultural systems aiming at sustainable forest management.

To improve the preparedness of the national forest fire-fighting operational centres, the Commission developed a series of monitoring instruments, which provide for forecasting fire risk levels on a daily basis and at pan-European level. The main results are forest fire risk maps, which are delivered day by day to the competent national authorities and services, as well as to the Commission's Monitoring and Information Centre established under Council Decision 2001/792/EC, Euratom, of 23 October 2001, establishing a Community mechanism to facilitate reinforced cooperation in civil protection assistance interventions (3). This centre coordinates the mutual assistance interventions whenever such help is requested. Moreover, after the 2003 fires, the Commission started offering training courses for national intervention teams and it is organising a major forest fire exercise in order to better respond in future to disasters.

The forthcoming report on the implementation of the EU Forestry Strategy, set up by Council Resolution of 15 December 1998 (4), is intended to examine the achievements of the ongoing forest actions also in relation to the forest fire problem and, if appropriate, draw conclusions about possible improvements. At the present stage, this report is in preparation and finalisation is foreseen before October 2004.

(1) OJ L 324, 11.12.2003.

(2) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999.

(3) OJ L 297, 15.11.2001.

(4) OJ C 56, 26.2.1999.