WRITTEN QUESTION No. 652/99 by Ioannis THEONAS Threats to public health and the ecological balance from waste on Santorini
Date: 1999-03-09
Institutions: European Parliament, THEONAS
Subjects: countryside conservation, environmental protection, heritage protection, public health, quality of life, soil pollution, waste disposal, waste management, waste recycling, water pollution

C 348/114

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

3.12.1999

(1999/C 348/145)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0652/99

by Ioannis Theonas (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(9 March 1999)

Subject: Threats to public health and the ecological balance from waste on Santorini

The inhabitants of the Aegean island of Santorini are facing a huge accumulation of problems over their water
supply, sewage system and waste management. The problems are exacerbated by the island’s high population
density, especially in the summer months when, with the added number of tourists, there is a steep increase in
the volume of effluent and rubbish, creating grave problems affecting both the health and quality of life of the
islanders and the balance of the ecosystem (soil and groundwater pollution) and the island’s outstanding
beauty and cultural and archaeological heritage. A particularly acute problem is posed by rubbish, the disposal
of which by the outdated method of incineration, against all safety rules, in residential areas, constitutes a
direct threat to public health.

In view of the gravity of the problems and the immediate need for action to deal with them, and the fact that
Santorini is included in an EU pilot programme under the Cohesion Fund (with 85 % of its finance from the
fund and 15 % from the Greek State), for an integrated waste management and water supply and sewage
scheme, will the Commission indicate the stage that has been reached in the implementation of this
programme, whether the competent Greek authorities and ministries have approved the planning and siting
of the works, and whether it is aware of the identity of the private contractor who will be carrying out the work
or the terms of the competition and the criteria for awarding the contract? Is it also true that incineration,
which has already roused public opposition because of its grave risk to public health and the balance of the
ecosystem, has been preferred as the method of waste disposal?

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

(21 April 1999)

The Commission has on several occasions discussed the pilot project on integrated water-supply management,
waste-water treatment and solid-waste disposal for the island of Santorini, both with the national Ministries for
Economic Affairs, the Environment and the Aegean and with the local authorities of the island.

However, it has not yet received any official request from the Greek authorities for Cohesion Fund financing
for this project. The Commission is therefore unable to answer the various questions put by the Honourable
Member.

The Commission wishes to stress that it adopts decisions on part-financing by the Community Funds only if
the projects concerned comply with Community legislation, including the rules on the environment.

(1999/C 348/146)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0685/99

by Daniel Varela Suanzes-Carpegna (PPE) to the Commission

(26 March 1999)

Subject: 1999 tariff quotas for tuna loins

Given that it would not make sense to grant new countries the preferential conditions enjoyed by the ACP and
GSP-Andean Pact countries, and that opening the market to South-East Asia, i.e. to countries to which this
preferential situation does not currently apply, would upset a hard-won equilibrium, does the Commission
agree that the suggested opening of a new tariff quota for tuna loins for 1999 would lead to a difficult political
situation with unpredictable consequences?