WRITTEN QUESTION E-0247/01

by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(8 February 2001)

Subject: Repeal of Regulation (EEC) 2158/92 on protection of the Community's forests against fire

At the Standing Forestry Committee's meeting in Chambord, France, the Commission announced its intention to repeal Regulation (EEC) 2158/92(1) on protection of the Community's forests against fire and to incorporate its measures into Regulation (EC) 1257/1999(2), which deals with rural development.

The protection of forests against fires is a major issue for Greece and the Mediterranean countries, since it is directly linked not only with maintaining fundamental ecological equilibria but also with tackling the desertification threatening these countries (30 % of Greece's territory is threatened with desertification). Will the Commission therefore say:

1. What are the Commission's reasons for repealing Regulation (EEC) 2158/92? Does it believe that the problem of forest fires is an agricultural issue, and not an environmental one?

2. Will measures such as information campaigns, research into the causes of fires etc., which are currently funded under Regulation (EEC) 2158/92, be eligible if this regulation is incorporated into Regulation (EC) 1257/1999?

3. How will projects for the improvement of infrastructure for forest fire prevention (such as firebreaks, roads, water tanks etc.) be funded, and which appropriations will be used?

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

(2) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 80.

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(30 March 2001)

The Commission is aware that forests play a vital role in safeguarding fundamental ecological equilibria, in particular as regards the soil, water, the climate, flora and fauna, and biodiversity generally. Such ecological equilibria are essential for the sustainable management of the countryside.

Fires are still one of the factors affecting the sustainable development of forests in fire-risk areas and thus hinder the development of sustainable forestry and restrict forests' contribution to the management of the countryside.

Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 of 17 May 1999 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and amending and repealing certain Regulations provides for support for certain fire-prevention measures, including investments in infrastructure, on the grounds that rural communities, and in particular foresters and farmers, the main trustees of Europe's forest heritage, play a fundamental role in devising regional fire-protection plans and by practising preventive silviculture entailing basic maintenance measures.

Since Council Regulations (EEC) Nos 3528/86 of 17 November 1986 on the protection of the Community's forests against atmospheric pollution(1) and 2158/92 of 23 July 1992 on protection of the Community's forests against fire expire on 31 December 2001, the Commission must soon take a decision on whether to continue with such measures, adapting them, where necessary, to the Commission's new policy on strategic planning, as it must with rural-development measures relating to fire prevention under Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999.

At this point the question arises as to whether a clear separation should be made between measures that can be financed under a specific forest-fire-prevention measure and rural development measures.

Precisely this issue came up at the meeting of the Standing Forestry Committee held on 2 and 3 October 2000.

Some of the many infrastructure projects to be part-financed from the Structural Funds in Greece in the course of implementation of the Community Support Framework (CSF) for the current programming period (2000-2006) will definitely be targeted directly or indirectly at protecting forests from fires and/or stepping up the effectiveness of fire prevention.

However, the selection of projects under the CSF will be the responsibility of the authorities managing the various operational programmes approved by the Commission once the negotiations with the Greek authorities have been completed. It will in particular be for the authorities managing the 13 regional programmes in the CSF for Greece to include projects on fire prevention, in line with the requirements of each region.

(1) OJ L 326, 21.11.1986.