WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2553/97 by Mihail PAPAYANNAKIS to the Commission. Protection of the Community's forests against fire
Date: 1997-07-15
Institutions: European Parliament, PAPAYANNAKIS
Subjects: EU financing, Greece, action programme, fire protection, forest conservation, forestry policy













EUR-Lex - 91997E2553 - EN






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91997E2553

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2553/97 by Mihail PAPAYANNAKIS to the Commission. Protection of the Community's forests against fire  


Official Journal C 060 , 25/02/1998 P. 0138 





WRITTEN QUESTION P-2553/97 by Mihail Papayannakis (GUE/NGL) to the Commission (15 July 1997)Subject: Protection of the Community's forests against fireUnder Regulation (EC) No 308/97 ((OJ L 51, 21.2.1997, p. 11. )) amending Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92 ((OJ L 217, 31.7.1992, p. 3. )) on protection of the Community's forests against fire for the period 1992-2001, funding is provided for forestry measures subject to the adoption of forest-fire protection plans and provided that, before 1 November each year, Member States submit to the Commission their projects or programmes for improving the protection of forests against fire.In view of the fires which broke out on 6 July 1997 in various localities in the prefecture of Thessaloniki destroying the Seik-Sou forest can the Commission say whether the Greek authorities submitted their projects or programmes for the protection of forests and when? What specific forest-fire protection measures has Greece adopted in order to comply with current Community legislation?Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (5 August 1997)The Greek national protection plan presented under Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92 on protection of the Community's forests against fire ((OJ L 217, 31.7.1992. )) (recently prolonged in validity by Regulation (EC) 308/97 ((OJ L 51, 21.2.1997. ))) was given a favourable opinion by the Commission on 7 March 1994. It describes the general situation for Greek forests, their specific problems, the fire history of the last ten years and the protective strategies adopted (infrastructure, silviculture, surveillance, extinction).Projects presented by Greece before 1 November of each year under Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92 must fall under this plan. Over the period 1994-96 aid of ECU 8.6 million was approved for 49 projects consistent with the plan and on 9 July 1997 the Commission approved aid of ECU 2.32 million for five projects meeting this requirement.Under Article 3(5) of Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92 any forestry measure granted Community financial assistance that is located in a high risk zone must be in line with the fire protection plan for that zone.Since the entire territory of Greece was classed as a high-risk zone by the Commission on 24 June 1993, all forestry measures approved for Greece under Cohesion Fund provisions, under the regional development programmes (national operational programme for agriculture under the Community support framework and regional operational programmes) and under the provisions on aid for afforesting agricultural land (Regulation (EEC) No 2080/92 instituting a Community aid scheme for forestry measures in agriculture ((OJ L 215, 30.7.1992. ))) must meet that requirement.