WRITTEN QUESTION E-2940/96 by Nikitas Kaklamanis (UPE) to the Commission (8 November 1996)

Subject: Pollution of the Aegean by Turkey

According to reports, there is an imminent danger of a major ecological disaster and collapse of the ecosystem in the Aegean while Turkey continues to 'bombard' it each day with hundreds of thousands of cubic metres of industrial and urban effluent.

According to United Nations reports and in particular the findings of the programme of action for the Mediterranean, the pollution of the Aegean by Turkey is taking place in four main areas: the Bosphorus which is already one of the most polluted sea areas in the world, Pergano, where gold is mined using sodium cyanide, the Gulf of Izmir with over 1 000 chemical and metallurgical plants and paper mills and opposite the island of Kos, where two particularly pollutant power stations (Gokova and Yutagan), are situated, Turkey having indicated in the past that it would close them down.

Furthermore it is not known what has become of the ECU 4,5 million borrowed by Turkey from the European Investment Bank to develop anti-pollutant technologies.

Given the gravity of this situation:

- will the Commission take steps and, if so, what steps with regard to Turkey with a view to ending the destruction of the Aegean Sea and ensure that it complies with basic environmental rules?

- will it investigate what became of the ECU 4,5 million borrowed by Turkey from the European Investment Bank to develop non-pollutant technology and when will it launch this investigation?

Joint answer to Written Questions E-2940/96, E-2979/96 and E-2980/96 given by Mr Van den Broek on behalf of the Commission (17 January 1997)

The Commission is aware of the pollution problems in the Aegean and the attendant environmental risks caused by the Turkish-based industrial plants to which the Honourable Members refer.

The Commission would stress that the EC-Turkey Association Council, in its resolution of 6 March 1995 on the extension of cooperation between the Community and Turkey, considered schemes to develop and strengthen environmental protection absolutely vital.

Under the MEDA programme, the Turkish authorities have submitted to the Commission a project aimed at assessing and monitoring marine, air and soil pollution along the country's coastline. The project has been - and is being - discussed by Turkish and Community experts. Whether it is funded will depend on the availability of resources under the 1997 budget.

As a contracting party to the Barcelona Convention and its protocols, Turkey is bound to honour its obligations, assuming that they are relevant to this case.

It is, however, for the Turkish government alone to take the decisions needed to tackle the pollution threatening the Aegean ecosystem.

The Honourable Members refer to ECU 4,5 million loaned to Turkey for the purposes of promoting clean technologies and funding the Gökova and Yutagan thermal power stations. The Commission would point out that the European Investment Bank (EIB) has no record of the loans in question.

The EIB's lending in Turkey is part of financial cooperation under the New Mediterranean Policy, a horizontal Community policy. Such loans are intended to fund investment in energy, transport and telecommunications projects of interest to one or more Mediterranean countries and the Community, and in projects to protect the Mediterranean environment. The latter enjoy a 3% interest rate subsidy financed by the Community budget. In Turkey, as in the other Mediterranean countries, the EIB attaches considerable importance to the environment.

Of loans totalling ECU 339 million made by the EIB in Turkey over the period 1992-1996, ECU 170 million went to four environmental projects. They concern the construction of a sewer network and sewage treatment plant in Antalya, a sewer network in Ankara and an industrial waste collection and processing system in Kocaeli province, and the installation of desulphurization equipment at the Yeniköy power station.

With regard to the environmental impact of establishing a petrochemicals plant on the Asia Minor coast opposite the island of Lesbos, Directive 85/337/EEC on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment applies only to the Member States. Turkey is not a signatory to the Espoo Convention on environmental impact assessment in a transboundary context, which provides for the assessment of projects involving petrochemical products.

As for the project to build a nuclear power station in the Akkuyiu region, the Turkish authorities launched an international invitation to tender for the construction of such a plant on 17 December 1996.