WRITTEN QUESTION No. 273/99 by Manuel ESCOLÁ HERNANDO Transfers from the River Ebro and the Cohesion Fund
Date: 1999-02-17
Institutions: ESCOLA HERNANDO, European Parliament
Subjects: Cohesion Fund, EU initiative, Portugal, Spain, drought, hydrology, project evaluation, report, supply, water resources, water supply

29.11.1999

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 341/79

(1999/C 341/108)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0272/99

by Manuel Escolá Hernando (ARE) to the Commission

Subject: Transfer of resources and the Cohesion Fund

(17 February 1999)

The publication on hydrological assessment in Spain and Portugal issued recently by the Office for Official
Publications of the European Communities mentions, on page 11, various remarks by the Spanish authorities
in a letter of 8 November 1995 on the report by the MWL consultancy firm contained in the said publication.
The said remarks refer to the transfer from one catchment area to another of the resources necessary to tackle
the serious structural problems affecting a number of regions in Spain.

Does the Commission agree with this approach? In its view, are other options available whereby works which
will encounter stiff opposition from political and social groups can be avoided?

(1999/C 341/109)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0273/99

by Manuel Escolá Hernando (ARE) to the Commission

Subject: Transfers from the River Ebro and the Cohesion Fund

(17 February 1999)

The MWL consultancy firm, hired within the framework of the Cohesion Fund to draw up a report on the
hydrological situation in Spain and Portugal, states on page 13 of the Spanish version of the publication issued
by the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, that in order to correct the shortages
amongst catchment areas caused by the irregular seasonal and spatial distribution of water in Spain, transfers
between catchment areas should be considered the most stable and suitable solution. Likewise, according to
the main findings on page 15, the research points to the feasibility of building up resources through increased
regulation of the flow of water in rivers and the transfer of excess water from northern Spain to the south and
east of the country.

To cite the last of many possible examples, the section dealing with potential improvements on page 19 puts
forward two main courses of action to correct the shortages in some catchment areas, including redistributing
water between them by means of transfers, and goes on to say that the only real feasible means of resolving the
problems affecting those catchment areas in which water is in short supply is to carry out works designed to
transfer resources. The said transfers would affect the Norte-Duero and Ebro rivers, and in the latter instance
would involve the transfer of 1 855 hm3.

The documentation used by MWL and contained in the aforementioned publication was produced by the then
socialist government. However, since 1996 another party has been in power in Spain.

Bearing this in mind:

8 does the Commission agree with the statements made by MWL in the publication on the need to transfer
water from the Ebro catchment area? If so, does it believe that the Cohesion Fund would serve as a suitable
financial instrument for that purpose?

8 has the current Spanish Government made the Commission aware of its views on the statements and
proposals contained in the MWL report on the feasibility of transfers from the River Ebro to other
catchment areas and on possible financing arrangements?

Joint answer
to Written Questions E-0271/99, E-0272/99 and E-0273/99
given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission

(25 March 1999)

The Montgomery Watson report financed by the Cohesion Fund is a factual and analytical presentation of the
water resources of the Iberian Peninsula and sets out various approaches to its water supply problems, in
particular for the most extreme situations and circumstances. It is in this context that transfers between basins
were mooted as an alternative or complement to other solutions.