ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 78/213

(2004/C 78 E/0218)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3052/03

by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(9 October 2003)

Subject: Suspension of the payment of Community appropriations for public works studies in Greece

According to reports which have caused concern in the Greek Parliament, the Commission, in letters sent by its competent services to the Greek Government and the corresponding directorates-general (letter from the Commission concerning the trans-European energy and transport networks of 13 July 2003, letter from the Transport Directorate-General of 28 July 2003 and letter from the Internal Market Directorate-General of 13 August 2003), has announced that payments for the Egnatia motorway and for all studies co-financed in Greece under the trans-European networks have been suspended and that it intends to bring the relevant proceedings before the European Court of Justice on the grounds that Greece is in breach of the rules governing the award of studies for public works.

In view of the serious nature of the decisions taken by the Commission's competent directorates-general, can the Commission answer the following questions:

1. Does the awarding of studies for public works in Greece pose any problem and if so, what specific aspects are concerned?

2. Have payments for studies co-financed in the field of public works in Greece been suspended, which projects are affected and what amounts of funding are involved?

3. Has it initiated the procedure for bringing Greece before the European Court of Justice and/or imposing fines and requiring the repayment of appropriations?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(26 November 2003)

1. In the course of a regularly scheduled on-the-spot control mission concerning the Egnatia project, the studies of which are partly co-financed through the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) budget line, some issues were identified, which showed that the practices in Greece for the award of study contracts may not be compatible with public procurement rules and thus required further clarification. The problem seems to be a mixing of the qualitative selection criteria with the criteria for the award of these contracts. The Commission is in close contact with the Greek authorities; in order to collect all necessary information which would allow it to assess the issues raised.

2. Whilst awaiting the outcome of the compatibility assessment under the public procurement rules, the Commission has decided to freeze payments for all studies benefiting from TEN-T support. Therefore, payments will be suspended for 38 decisions (studies) which amount to EUR 82 million of the total planned support, until the Greek authorities provide evidence of the compatibility of national rules or practices with the Community legislation on public procurement.
EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 78/233

(2004/C 78 E/0235)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3165/03

by Chris Davies (ELDR) to the Commission

(20 October 2003)

Subject: Spanish Hydrological Plan (Pyrenees)

In reaching decisions regarding the application of environmental legislation and the rules concerning the approval of bids for structural funding, does the Commission accept that plans for dam projects in the Pyrenees — particularly the Yesa Dam enlargement and construction of new dams at Biscarruès, Santaliestra, Itoiz and Rialp — should be considered as part of the overall Spanish Hydrological Plan, in that they are essential to the water transfers proposed?

Have formal requests for structural fund assistance towards the cost of any of these projects yet been submitted by the Spanish authorities?

Is the Commission aware that work on the Santaliestra dam has been suspended due to failure by those involved to take full account of the need for comprehensive environmental risk assessments?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(11 November 2003)

Concerning the proposed dams in the Pyrenees in the catchment of the river Ebro, the Commission understands from the Spanish authorities that these dams do not have any connection with the proposed Ebro transfer foreseen in the Spanish National Hydrological Plan and that they will not be used to regulate the flow in the lower river. The Commission further understands from the Spanish authorities, that only the existing Mequinenza and Ribarroja/Flix dams in the lower reaches of the Ebro catchment will be used to regulate the flow at the abstraction point foreseen for the proposed transfer.

The Commission has requested information from the Spanish authorities regarding Community financing of these projects. In their reply, the Spanish authorities inform that none of these projects are included in the relevant Objective 2 Single Programming Documents, neither is there financing through the Cohesion Fund.

With regard to the suspension of work on the Santaliestra dam, the Commission was aware of the fact that work had been suspended.
EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 78/640

(2004/C 78 E/0675)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3752/03

by Roberta Angelilli (UEN) to the Commission

(10 December 2003)

Subject: Update on use of funding from the 2000 City Twinning Programme by the municipality of Ancona

In its answer to question E-1017/03 (1), which asked whether the municipality of Ancona had submitted projects and secured funding under the 2000 City Twinning Programme, the Commission stated that no funding had been granted for the year 2000.

Can the Commission say whether the municipality has submitted any projects and obtained and used any funding in the budget years since then?

(1) OJ C 242 E, 9.10.2003, p. 208.
EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 84/722

(2004/C 84 E/0811)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1398/03

by Arie Oostlander (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(11 April 2003)

Subject: Publication of the fortnightly newsletter Europa van Morgen

The fortnightly newsletter Europa van Morgen (Tomorrow's Europe) produced by the Commission Representation in the Netherlands has not appeared since the end of February 2003. As I understand it, this is because of an administrative slip-up. This newsletter is greatly appreciated by readers because it is accessible and provides a starting point for obtaining further information. In view of the forthcoming European elections, in particular, will the Commission make interim arrangements as soon as possible to enable publication of the newsletter to continue until such time as the new tender procedure is organised.

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(21 May 2003)

The Commission is grateful to the Honourable Member for his positive comments on the newsletter ‘Europa van Morgen’.

The Commission's duty is to constantly adapt its information material to the evolving requirements of its readers. Issuing a printed newsletter is expensive. The Commission needs therefore to evaluate regularly its content and presentation against other means of communication, as the only way to ensure that taxpayer's money is spent in the respect of the principles of sound financial management.

The Commission will make sure that information is provided to the relevant target groups by its Representation in the Netherlands in the most appropriate form.
EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 78/799

(2004/C 78 E/0848)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3298/03

by Ian Hudghton (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(3 November 2003)

Subject: Effect of climatic change on cod stocks

There is widespread anecdotal evidence, supported by the fishermen with the real experience of fishing northern waters, that stocks of cod are moving north as sea temperatures increase. This is supported by scientific research including, notably, that which was published in Science Magazine vol. 296 No 5573 relating to work done by the Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science.

Does the Commission intend to factor in any such new evidence when making its recommendations to the Council prior to this December's Fisheries Council meeting?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(19 November 2003)

The Commission values the knowledge and experience of commercial fishermen and encourages them to make their views available to the scientific agencies that advise the Commission as well as directly to the Commission. However, when making a basis for conservation proposals that will have a large impact on fishing communities, it is appropriate to accord higher importance to the results of systematic and scientifically-designed surveys and monitoring systems than to anecdotal observations.

The work referred to indicates a northward shift in copepod distributions and the effect of this on distributions of fish is not clear. However, both science and industry concur that the remaining aggregations of cod are now located further north than their historic distribution patterns. In previous cases of stock collapse it has been the case that as fish stocks become smaller their area of distribution shrinks as the last few fish aggregate in the most favourable areas.

Indications of a reduction in the distribution of fish onto a smaller area are therefore an additional warning sign that the stock is at a low level and very vulnerable to exploitation.

The Commission will effectively have such factors in mind when preparing relevant conservation proposals.
EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 78/870

(2004/C 78 E/0923)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3879/03

by Olle Schmidt (ELDR) to the Commission

(16 December 2003)

Subject: Rules governing eel fishing

The migration of eels in Europe has fallen by between 90 and 95 % since the 1950s. Accordingly the Commission's proposal (1) on measures to save the eel is of great importance.

Naturally the long-term management of the eel population must come first. However, the burden of saving the eels must be shared equally among all the areas over which the species is distributed in Europe. It is not reasonable to have new rules imposing a total ban on eel fishing in Northern Europe while at the same Southern Europe continues to fish for elvers on a large scale for consumption or breeding.

Fishing should be reduced, but this reduction should be spread over the whole of Europe. However, the Commission is side-stepping the most important measure to save the eel, namely the transplantation of the eel fry which the French, Spaniards and Portuguese are currently catching in large numbers for consumption or eel farming.

In the south of Sweden there is a small-scale eel fishery which is of great importance for local traditions. That being so, what can the Commission do to adapt the new rules on eel fishing so that the responsibility and burden is shared by the whole of Europe?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(26 January 2004)

The Commission agrees that eel fisheries should be managed in an equitable way across Europe, for the benefit of all parties concerned, and with contributions to conservation to be made in a fair and balanced manner.

Sustainable eel stocks can best be maintained by ensuring that sufficient glass eel recruit from the estuaries to populate the river basins, sufficient yellow eel survive the riverine fisheries, and finally that sufficient silver eel survive the downstream migrations to join the stock of spawning fish. Either environmental measures or fisheries-related measures (or both), should be used, and even then only in a consistent and fair way. Member States should retain responsibility for implementing measures at a local level to reach these objectives. In the longer term, the Commission is committed to proposing a Community-wide system for eel management that is equitable in respect of management action taken in different areas and in different life stages.

However, given the immediate scientific concerns about the state of the eel stock, short-term and emergency measures are also needed. The measures that will have the largest immediate contribution to the spawning stock of adult eel are to ensure the highest possible survival of silver eel during their downstream migration. The Commission will therefore focus on this topic as a matter of urgency when developing its proposals, and will consider ways to reduce the mortality of silver eel due to both fishing and to environmental modifications.

(1) COM(2003)573.
EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 78/117

(2004/C 78 E/0118)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2481/03

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

(24 July 2003)

Subject: Transferable fishing quotas

When appearing before Parliament's Committee on Fisheries on 10 June 2003, Commissioner Fischler announced that the Commission would put forward a working paper on transferable fishing quotas in Community waters before the end of the year.

Given this document's importance for the future CFP:

1. Can the Commission provide more information on the matter?

2. Can it now give more precise dates for when the document might be available?

3. Is the Commission considering its possible application in all the various fisheries, zones and fleets?

4. Will the Commission act on the suggestion made in Parliament and start introducing transferable quotas by means of experimental or pilot projects?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(10 September 2003)

In its Communication on reform of the CFP (1) the Commission states its intention of examining the economic aspects of fisheries management in the Union and to that end organising workshops with the stakeholders in economic management and presenting a reflection paper looking in particular at the question of individual and transferable fishing rights.

At the moment the Commission is engaged in consulting all stakeholders so that they can make their experiences known to it. Widely varying management systems have been tried in Europe and elsewhere in the world, individual fisheries are very diverse in nature and the constraints under which they operate are not often comparable. Since the Commission wants discussion to be as wide, full and open as possible and this year's calendar is already very heavily laden it appears necessary to defer the report to 2004.

The Commission's primary wish for its report on the economics of fishery management is that it should contribute to the stakeholders' reflections. It has no intention of advocating the use of any particular management system. Its responsibility is to propose annual catch rates (total allowable catches) and quotas but it has no authority to allocate these within countries or regions or to decide that experimental or pilot projects for transferable quota systems should be run within Member States.

(1) Commission Communication to the Council and Parliament on reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (‘Roadmap’) COM(2002)181 final.
2.

The Protocol states in its Article 2 that the financial counterpart rises to EUR 10 million per year (EUR 10,5 million for the two last years). Of that amount, the financial compensation rises to EUR 9 million for the first three years of validity of the Protocol and EUR 9,5 million for the last two. According to that article, the government of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau has exclusive competence to determine the use of the financial compensation established by the Protocol. The fishing possibilities determined by Article 1 of that Protocol are the following: — trawler shrimp fishermen deep freezers: 9 600 (gross registered tonnage) (GRT) per year; — trawler deep freezers (finfish and cephalopods): 2 800 GRT per year; — purse-seine tuna vessels: 40 vessels; — pole-and-line and surface long-liners: 36 vessels.
EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 88/137

(2004/C 88 E/0144)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3244/03

by Margrietus van den Berg (PSE) to the Commission

(3 November 2003)

Subject: Policy Coherence for Development Network

On a Netherlands initiative, a Policy Coherence for Development Network was recently set up for the purpose of promoting information-exchanges between EU Member States on maintaining policy consistency.

1. Can the Commission state how the network operates?

2. What have been the initial results of information-exchanges?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(11 December 2003)

At the meeting of Union Directors General for Development Cooperation on 2/3 October 2003, the Dutch Director General tabled a proposal to set up a senior level informal network on coherence, which would foster capacity building, co-ordination and set concrete targets for work on coherence. The participants would alert each other on policy initiatives with implications for development co-operation and spot incoherence where it exists.

The prime objective of the network would be to improve co-ordination between the Member States. On key issues of policy coherence, Member States would communicate and co-ordinate more intensively: exchange information about pending decisions, share analyses of development aspects, draft positions and where possible co-ordinate strategies. It was argued that such an exchange would help to ensure that the development perspective is effectively taken into account in decision making at Union level.

The proposal was warmly welcomed.

The Commission will participate as one of the members of this network.

At this stage the network is still in its inception phase. Member States are designating co-ordinators for information exchange and collaboration between Member States and with the Commission concerning coherence issues. A list of priority issues is being prepared.
EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 78/532

(2004/C 78 E/0554)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3371/03

by Mogens Camre (UEN) to the Commission

(14 November 2003)

Subject: Legal implications of ratification of EU draft Constitution

Article 311 of the Treaty establishing the European Community states that the protocols form an integral part of the Treaty. As the existing treaties — the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community — will cease to be valid once the EU's draft Constitution is ratified, it must also be expected that the existing protocols will also cease to be valid and will be renegotiated in accordance with the principle set out in Article 48 of the Treaty on European Union.

Moreover, Part IV of the Convention's draft Constitution, Articles IV-2 and IV-3, in particular the second paragraph thereof, states that only those protocols mentioned in the protocol annexed to the Treaty establishing the Constitution will remain in force. This must be construed as meaning that the other protocols which are not listed in the protocol annexed to the Constitution cease to be valid and are to be renegotiated by the Heads of Government at the Intergovernmental Conference. Can the Commission confirm this to be the case?

Can the Commission say what the legal implications of ratification of the EU's draft Constitution will be in relation to the protocols which are currently annexed to the present Treaties?

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(23 December 2003)

Article IV(2) of the draft Constitution provides for the repeal of the EC and EU Treaties, including all the protocols attached to those Treaties.

Accordingly, when the Constitution enters into force, all the protocols in question will be repealed.

The Presidency of the Intergovernmental Conference has instructed a group of legal experts from the delegations, under the chairmanship of Mr Piris, an IGC juris consult, to check the legality of the draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe drawn up by the Convention. The exercise also involved looking into the matter of which protocols attached to the EU or EC Treaty should be included or adapted. The result of this work has been submitted to the Conference (doc. IGC 50/03-ADD 1); if the Conference endorses the result, the protocols in question, revised by that group, will be attached to the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe.
EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 88/610

(2004/C 88 E/0630)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1297/03

by José Ribeiro e Castro (UEN) to the Commission

(7 April 2003)

Subject: Massacres in Kashmir

Various reports in the media indicate that fighting has broken out again in the part of Kashmir under Indian administration.

On 24 March 2003, in Nadi Marg, south of Srinagar, 24 Hindus, including 11 women and 2 children, were murdered.

It appears that this massacre was in retaliation for the previous day's murder of Abdul Majid Dar, the former leader of the Hizbul Mujahedin, one of the main anti-Indian guerrilla movements.

These recent crimes have given rise to fears that the conflict between India and Pakistan may be reignited, given that the world's attention is almost exclusively focused on the Iraq issue.

The Commission:

— what information does it have about the events in question;

— given that it will have been permanently monitoring Indo-Pakistani relations, what medium to long-term developments does it anticipate;

— what measures has it taken or does it intend to take to bring about the reconciliation of the two sides;

— what role does it believe the European Union could play in resolving this conflict?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(12 May 2003)

The Commission shares the views expressed by the Honourable Member that the Indo-Pakistan tensions remain a very serious matter of concern. The Commission is also well aware of the events of Nandimarg and it has condemned, in the clearest terms, this act of violence and terrorism, which has led to such tragic loss of innocent lifes.

The Member of the Commission in charge of external relations expressed his outrage and solidarity in a letter that he wrote to his Indian counterpart, Minister of External Affairs Yashwant Sinha, and the Presidency did the same on behalf of the Union.

The Commission is of the view that a peaceful settlement is the only way forward in the conflict between India and Pakistan. This has been the EU's long-standing and consistent policy. The Commission regularly points out India and Pakistan's respective responsibilities and it will continue to press for an end to cross-border terrorism and for the resumption of a dialogue between both governments.

The EU acknowledges the critical importance of relations between India and Pakistan for world peace and security, and gives the issue its constant and dedicated attention, irrespective of events elsewhere in the world. The Commission has also given its full support to the efforts of the international community to engage both parties in a rapid de-escalation of tension in the short term, and to progress towards a peaceful solution in the longer term. A peaceful settlement can only be reached by the parties to the conflict themselves and the role of the international community is to encourage both sides to make the necessary move in this direction.