WRITTEN QUESTION No. 177/99 by Dietrich ELCHLEPP Power supply line from Morocco to Spain
Date: 1999-02-11
Institutions: ELCHLEPP, European Parliament
Subjects: EIB loan, EU programme, Mediterranean third countries, Morocco, Spain, electrical energy, financial aid, trans-European network, wind energy

12.11.1999

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 325/81

3.

4.

include in the definition of narcotic drugs not merely those that are harmful to health but also those that,
although apparently innocuous, may alter an athlete’s performance;

introduce a system of sanctions applicable throughout the territory of the EU in the event of drug use
being uncovered?

Answer given by Mr Oreja on behalf of the Commission

(15 March 1999)

The Commission shares the views of the Honourable Member on the international dimension to the use of
drugs in professional sport as well as its repercussions on amateur sport.

The Commission has noted the Vienna European Council’s call to combat drug use, Parliament’s resolution of
17 December 1998 on the same topic and the declaration issued by the Council Presidency following the
informal meeting of the Ministers for Sport which was held in Bonn on 18 January 1999. The Commission
also took part in the World Conference on doping organised by the International Olympic Committee in
Lausanne.

In view of the various stances taken, the Commission has set up a working party with the Member States and
with the Council of Europe as an observer, in order to study possible Community action on such issues as
those raised by the Honourable Member.

The Commission will present a report on the results of the working party’s deliberations at an informal
meeting of the Ministers for Sport to be held in Paderborn from 31 May to 2 June 1999. The report will also be
transmitted to Parliament.

(1999/C 325/104)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0177/99

by Dietrich Elchlepp (PSE) to the Commission

(11 February 1999)

Subject: Power supply line from Morocco to Spain

1. What is the Commission’s view of the proposal to include in the list of projects for the trans-European
networks an electricity supply line from Morocco to Spain, then feeding into the European grid, as a major
factor in producing cheap. environmental energy from the large-scale wind energy plants in the Western
Sahara, which is noted for its winds?

2.

Could this project be financed under the MEDA programme?

Does the Commission see any possibility of (co)financing, in agreement with the government of

3.
Morocco, a feasibility study to look into all the economic, technical and constitutional aspects?

Answer given by Mr Marín on behalf of the Commission

(17 March 1999)

This project has already been carried out. The Moroccan and Spanish national electricity grids were

1.
connected in 1998 and up to 700 MW per 20 minute block can be shifted in either direction.

An €80 million loan from the EIB under the fourth EC-Morocco financial protocol (1992-96) was used

2.
to finance the project.

The EIB loan comes under the heading of ‘horizontal’ financial cooperation, a financial instrument of the new
Mediterranean policy designed to fund investment projects of mutual interest to Member States and southern
Mediterranean non-member countries.