WRITTEN QUESTION P-0195/00

by Elisabeth Schroedter (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(27 January 2000)

Subject: Interreg Project in Schwedt, Brandenburg (Germany) use of tropical wood in a project receiving maximum EU funding

A foot and cycle bridge over a lock in Schwedt (Euroregion of Pomerania), has been granted the maximum EU subsidy of 75 % (DEM 1,45 million). This bridge is to be built of bongossi, a tropical hardwood which is not recognised as a product of sustainable forestry.

1. Does the Commission feel that it is permissible for the use of tropical woods which may not derive from sustainable forestry to be subsidised by European funds, and that such funding is compatible with the horizontal Community policy on protecting and improving the environment?

If so, how does the Commission justify this, particularly in the light of the Community's promises to protect the global climate?

If not, what does the Commission propose to do to prohibit the granting of this subsidy?

2. Does the Commission consider it essential for a project subsidised by the EU to use tropical wood when other alternatives are available?

3. Does the Commission consider that it is necessary in the interest of the European environment, and of consistency with its promises to protect the global climate, that the payment of funds from the Community's Interreg initiative should be halted rapidly with a view, if possible, to preventing this wood from even being delivered?

If so, what measures will the Commission take in this case?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(30 March 2000)

The Commission is aware of the need to promote environmentally friendly forestry in developing countries. For example, more than 50 million per year is allocated from the Community budget for the conservation and sustainable cultivation of forests in developing countries. The Commission has also intervened in the global discussions on this matter, for example, in international forestry committees, in order to promote the ecological dimension of forestry management. It has also supported the voluntary certification of forestry products aimed at raising awareness.

Under the regulations governing the structural funds, the selection of individual projects is a responsibility of the Member States, once the strategic programme priorities have been agreed with the Commission. The national authorities are, at the same time, obliged to apply Community law, for example, in relation to the environment.

On the basis of information supplied to the Commission by the German authorities, the implementation in its particular form of the specific project cited by the Honourable Member does not constitute a breach of Community law nor is it an infringement of German national law. The Commission is not therefore in a position to impose restrictions on the project and there is no basis to withdraw financial support under the structural funds.

However, the Commission intends to examine the possibilities on how to take the environmental dimension better into account in the context of the rules governing European public procurement. The result of this examination will take the form of an interpretative communication on European public procurement and the environment.

The Commission following an invitation from the Council is considering the possibility for further action on the certification of sustainably managed forests and on the labelling of products from such forests.