WRITTEN QUESTION E-1361/00 by Ria Oomen-Ruijten (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Waste incineration in another Member State.
Date: 2000-05-04
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU policy - national policy, Germany, Limburg, Netherlands, North Rhine-Westphalia, export of waste, waste incineration

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.

C 89 E/32

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

20.3.2001

At present Dutch rules impose tight restrictions on the cross-border incineration of waste (in this case the
incineration of industrial waste from Limburg in Eschweiler-Weisweiler in Germany). Exporting waste with
a view to re-use is permitted, provided the degree to which it is re-used is equivalent to, or greater than,
the degree in the Netherlands.

Is the Commission aware of the study of the legal aspects of cross-border waste processing which has been
carried out by the University of Maastricht on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce of the Southern
Netherlands?

If so, what is the Commission(cid:146)s response to the conclusions of this study?

Can the Commission indicate how Dutch policy on restrictions on imports and exports of waste intended
for removal or for processing relates to the European regulation on the supervision and control of
shipments of waste within, into and out of the European Community (Regulation (EEC) No 259/93 (1)), in
the light of decisions of the European Court of Justice (for examples cases C-2/90 and C-203/96)?

(1) OJ L 30, 6.2.1993, p. 1.

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

(9 June 2000)

Council Regulation (EEC) No 259/93 of 1 February 1993 on the supervision and control of shipments of
waste within,
into and out of the Community makes a distinction between shipments of wastes for
recovery and shipments of wastes for disposal. The Commission considers incineration with energy
recovery a recovery operation (R1) pursuant to Annex II B of Council Directive 75/442/EEC of 15 July
1975 on waste (1), as amended. Incineration without energy recovery is considered a disposal operation
(D10) pursuant to Annex II A of the same Directive. As regards shipments of wastes for disposal,
Article 4(3)(a)(i) of Regulation (EEC) No 259/93 allows Member States to prohibit generally or partially
or to object systematically to shipments of waste in order to implement the principles of proximity,
priority for recovery and self-sufficiency. In the absence of such general rules, Member States may object to
shipments of waste for disposal in individual cases on the basis of the objections outlined in Article 4(3)(b).
Insofar as waste shipments for recovery within the Community are concerned, Member States may object
to such shipment on a case-by-case basis only, and only on the limited grounds for objections enumerated
in Article 7 (4) of Regulation (EEC) No 259/93.

The Commission has received several complaints concerning the implementation of Regulation (EEC)
No 259/93 by the Dutch authorities. These are the subject of infringement proceedings against the
Netherlands and the Commission is currently assessing the Dutch reply to its letter of formal notice. The
Commission is aware of the study mentioned by the Honourable Member. It is under examination in the
context of the infringement proceedings.

(1) OJ L 194, 25.7.1975.

(2001/C 89 E/030)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1368/00

by Elisabeth Schroedter (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(19 April 2000)

Subject: Proper recognition of the European goal of equal opportunities for men and women in German

Objective 1 programming

1.
Is it true to say that the regional plan for the German Objective 1 area (the five new L(cid:228)nder and East
Berlin) fails to (cid:145)contribute to (cid:133) the elimination of inequalities, and the promotion of equality between men
and women(cid:146) (Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999), as the Structural Funds are intended to do, or at
any rate fails to take that goal properly into account?