WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1976/97 by Alexandros ALAVANOS to the Commission. Risk to Hadrian's Aqueduct from construction of an artificial lake
Date: 1997-06-09
Institutions: ALAVANOS, European Parliament
Subjects: Central Greece, EU law - national law, cultural heritage, engineering structure, heritage protection, historic site, impact study, lake, operational programme, project evaluation

C 45/134

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

10. 2. 98

(98/C 45/172)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1975/97

by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(9 June 1997)

Subject: Usefulness and effectiveness of the Lingua Programme

The 18th High School in Athens made a visit to the Instituto de Bachillerato (cid:145)Jorge Juan(cid:146) in Alicante, Spain, as
part  of  the  Lingua  Programme.  Despite  thorough  preparation  by  the  Athens  school  (talks  ›  videos  ›  art
exhibition etc.), the visit was a failure and the pupils were utterly disappointed because the Jorge Juan school
authorities were not well informed about the exchange programme, the Greek pupils were unable to take part in
classes and there was a total absence of Spanish pupils.

Is the Commission aware of this particular case and what is its assessment of the usefulness and effectiveness in
general of the educational exchanges under the Socrates programme, which should operate as a genuine rather
than superficial European educational programme?

Answer given by Mrs Cresson on behalf of the Commission

(17 July 1997)

Lingua action E (joint educational projects for language learning) of the Socrates programme is a decentralised
action. Decisions regarding allocations of grants are taken by the national agencies appointed in the Member
States, within the available budget. The selection criteria are laid down at a European level, and they may be
complemented by national priorities.

The  situation  described  by  the  Honourable  Member  does  not  reflect  the  normal  operation  of  a  project.  The
Commission will investigate the situation with the national agency.

(98/C 45/173)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1976/97

by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(9 June 1997)

Subject: Risk to Hadrian(cid:146)s Aqueduct from construction of an artificial lake

ICOMOS (the International Council of Monuments and Sites › technical adviser to UNESCO) and numerous
civic organizations claim that Hadrian(cid:146)s Aqueduct in Nea Ionia, a few kilometres from the centre of Athens, is in
danger of being destroyed because of a decision to build a 700m2 artificial lake, a cafe and other projects on the
foundations of the aqueduct in breach of the rules on reafforestation and building in the area.

Some  of  the  work  was  previously  suspended  after  the  intervention  of  the  Directorate  for  Restoration  but
construction  of  the  artificial  lake  recently  started  at  the  very  foot  of  the  monument(cid:146)s  main  support  columns,
making it even more likely to collapse.

In view of the fact that the project forms part of the national section of the environment operational programme
under the second Community Support Framework, will the Commission say:

1.  whether environmental studies have been carried out for the works in question, and

2.  whether it intends to take measures to save the monument and, if so, what those measures are?

Answer given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission

(17 July 1997)

The project to rehabilitate the Hadrian’s Aqueduct and Giambourla dry stream bed area in the municipality of Nea
Ionia  (Athens)  is  part  of  the  Environment  operational  programme  under  the  1994/99  Community  support
framework  for  Greece.  Its  budget  is  ECU  700  000  (DRA  200  million)  and  so  far  DRA  80  million  has  been
declared as spent.