WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2489/98 by Undine-Uta BLOCH von BLOTTNITZ , Edith MÜLLER to the Commission. EU aid and improved nuclear safety in Central and Eastern Europe
Date: 1998-07-30
Institutions: BLOCH VON BLOTTNITZ, European Parliament
Subjects: Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern European countries, EU programme, financial aid, nuclear safety, subcontracting

14.5.1999

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 135/63

Previous studies show that there are good opportunities for the development of combined transport
2.
and short sea shipping on the corridor. It is therefore expected that this important corridor will be able to
contribute substantially to improving the access of peripheral regions of the Community and of
Mediterranean countries to the central regions of the Community in a framework of sustainable mobility
of persons and goods. The Commission is therefore convinced of its usefulness.

3.
The Adriatic and Ionian seas were also recognised as an important transport element by the Third
pan-European transport conference held in Helsinki in June 1997, where the Adriatic/Ionian PETrA (Pan-
European transport area) was defined. It is intended that, for the PETrA, the countries concerned should
work on the establishment of an infrastructure development plan for the area and for its links with the pan-
European corridors and the Trans-European transport network. With the encouragement of the Com-
mission, Italy and Greece have jointly undertaken some preparatory work and plan to call a general
meeting of all interested parties, including the Commission, in the near future.

(1) OJ L 228, 23.9.1995.

(1999/C 135/073)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2488/98

by Undine-Uta Bloch von Blottnitz (V) and Edith Müller (V) to the Commission

Subject: EU aid and improved nuclear safety in Central and Eastern Europe

(30 July 1998)

The European Union is spending substantial sums under the PHARE and TACIS programmes on
improving nuclear safety in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

Can the Commission estimate (in percentage and/or real terms) the extent to which nuclear safety has
improved in the recipient countries, following the deployment of the various types of EU aid, since the
programmes were initiated?

(1999/C 135/074)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2489/98

by Undine-Uta Bloch von Blottnitz (V) and Edith Müller (V) to the Commission

Subject: EU aid and improved nuclear safety in Central and Eastern Europe

(30 July 1998)

As long ago as November 1996, in the study ‘Nuclear safeguards and nuclear safety in the East’
(PE 166.083/fin.), the European Parliament’s STOA unit documented serious shortcomings in the
administration of EU financial aid to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe in connection with
the PHARE and TACIS programmes. At around the same time the Commission commissioned a similar
study, the purpose of which was to evaluate the safety improvements which had actually been achieved in
the nuclear sector in the recipient countries. However, the European Parliament has not been given access
to date either to that study or to its results. Experiences with current PHARE and TACIS projects suggest
that little or nothing has changed with regard to the weaknesses in the EU-funded aid programmes
previously identified in the STOA study.

1.
Does the Commission consider that the procedural rules governing the aid programmes make it
possible to react quickly enough to sudden problems, or are there possibilities for improvement in this
respect and, if so, what are they?

2.
Is it correct that the Commission is having serious problems in coordinating aid to the Central and
Eastern European nuclear sector, as intended by the G24 States, partly because of a lack of adequate
communication not only between its own departments but also with other organisations involved, and
does it consider the staff available to it in this area to be adequate in terms of numbers and qualifications?

3. What is the Commission’s view of the effects of the problem of liability on improvements in nuclear
security in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and what effect are liability issues having on the
success of the EU funds deployed to this end?