WRITTEN QUESTION P-1358/00 by Francesco Musotto (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Damage caused by the prolonged drought in Sicily.
Date: 2000-04-19
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU environmental policy, Sicily, competence of the Member States, drought, water management, water resources

C 89 E/30

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

20.3.2001

Commission on having the courage to face up to the fonctionnaires(cid:146) powerful trade unions. But would it
not be a good idea for those at the very top of the Commission structure (i.e. the Commissioners
themselves) to set their staff a good example by accepting the same stringent performance targets as their
employees and subjecting themselves to an annual evaluation?

Would the Commission please comment on my proposal that each Commissioner book an appointment
with the Parliament once a year for a full and frank two-way analysis of their personal performance and
the performance of their DGs?

Please would the Commission also state whether, in the interests of equity, Commissioners plan to accept
adherence to the same disciplinary procedures as their staff, whereby,
in the most extreme cases,
underperforming Commissioners can be reassigned, again, just like their staff?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(26 June 2000)

The legal basis for staff appraisal is Article 43 of the Staff Regulations, which recommends that staff should
be the subject of a periodical report at least once every two years. This applies only to officials and other
servants of the Communities, with the exception of Grades A1 and A2. For the latter grades, the White
Paper on the administrative reform of the Commission published in March proposes the introduction of a
separate appraisal system (COM(2000) 200, Chapter IV.2, page 11).

The Members of the Commission, unlike the staff covered by Article 43, bear a political responsibility
which is set down in the Treaty and is outside the scope of the Staff Regulations.

All Commissioners willingly attend Parliamentary Committees on a regular basis (cid:129) and much more
frequently than once a year (cid:129) in order to discuss and account for the purposes and results of their
activities in the sector for which they are politically responsible.

As the Honourable Member will know, negotiations on a new inter-institutional agreement on mutual
relations are currently taking place, and the political relationship between Parliament and the Commission
will be integrated within an agreed framework in the future.

Article 160 (ex Article 130c) of the EC Treaty provides for the compulsory retirement of a Member of the
Commission who no longer fulfils the conditions required for the performance of his or her duties or has
been guilty of serious misconduct. In addition, each member of the current Commission has given an
undertaking to the President that he or she will resign their position if asked by the President to do so.

(2001/C 89 E/028)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1358/00

by Francesco Musotto (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Damage caused by the prolonged drought in Sicily

(19 April 2000)

The prolonged and increasingly severe drought is becoming a chronic rather than occasional problem,
with which farmers in the region will have to learn to live in the near future.

Some winter crops have been destroyed whilst spring crops are in serious danger, and this is having an
adverse effect on farms, which are having to cope with the globalisation of markets, and on the already
critical employment situation in the sector.

20.3.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 89 E/31

Since a large proportion of
Commission say:

the water resources is increasingly diverted for private use, can the

1. whether it has plans for a specific project to increase water resources by using non-conventional
sources of supply, drilling down into water-bearing strata, creating small inland reservoirs in the hills
and granting incentives to farms to encourage the more widespread use of less wasteful irrigation
systems (drip irrigation equipment)?

2. whether the EU can ask the Member States what stage they have reached in implementing the rules

concerning the unification of competence in the regional management of water resources?

Answer given by Mrs Wallstr(cid:246)m on behalf of the Commission

(8 June 2000)

Water resources management in terms of its quantity aspects falls under Article 175 (ex Article 130s),
paragraph 2 of the EC Treaty. This Article has not to date been used for the adoption of Community
legislation covering water resources management. Presently, therefore, there is no Community legislation
concerning the unification of competence in the regional management of water resources. Moreover, the
Commission does not have plans to propose legislation on water quantity management. Water resources
management as such, and consequently, the allocation of water resources remain the responsibility of
individual Member States.

A proposal for a water framework directive (1) is currently in the last stages of co-decision between the
Parliament and the Council with expected adoption in July or September 2000. This proposal introduces
the river basin in its entirety as the fundamental geographic unit for water management. However, water
quantity is treated as an ancillary parameter for achieving good ecological and chemical status of the
aquatic ecosystem. The proposal is aimed at protecting and improving the ecological and chemical quality
of waters and does not introduce Community competence for water resources management in terms of its
quantity aspects.

The proposal encourages sound water management including the use of water saving practices and
techniques, including drip irrigation equipment, as part of the measures Member States may use where
there is a risk that the required good ecological and chemical status of waters will not be achieved.

The recent changes to the common agriculture policy aim as one of its axes at securing rural communities
and at improving protection of the environment. This is inter alia achieved through agri-environmental
measures, rural development policy and regional development programmes supported inter alia under
European Agriculture Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) Guidance section where solutions adjusted
to the diverse conditions in the specific rural area may be supported under Community funding.

The Community support framework for the Italian objective 1 regions (including Sicily) provides for
measures to improve the water infrastructure for agriculture in rural areas, in a perspective to increase
both availability of the resource and efficiency of management systems.

(1) OJ C 342 E, 30.11.1999.

(2001/C 89 E/029)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1361/00

by Ria Oomen-Ruijten (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Waste incineration in another Member State

(4 May 2000)

The Netherlands province of Limburg does not have its own waste incineration facility. Waste from
Limburg is currently being transported large distances for processing elsewhere in the Netherlands.