WRITTEN QUESTION E-1867/00 by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission. Consequences of Chernobyl.
Date: 2000-06-09
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU aid, Ukraine, environmental protection, nuclear accident, nuclear safety, public health, radioactive pollution, radioactivity

18.4.2001

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 113 E/45

Moreover, all EU Member States have signed and with a few exceptions ratified the twelve pertinent UN
international anti-terrorism conventions. In Article 29 of the TEU it is spelled out that the objective of
providing citizens with a high level of safety within an area of freedom, security and justice shall be
achieved by preventing and combating crime, organised or otherwise, including inter alia terrorism.

The Council decided on 3 December 1998 to instruct Europol to deal with crimes committed or likely to
be committed in the course of terrorist activities against life, limb, personal freedom or property.

In order to signal

trends and threats and alert Member States, every six months a
2.
confidential document on Internal and External Threat of Terrorism for EU countries is presented to the
Council.

terrorist

The recommendation on cooperation in combating the financing of terrorist groups adopted by the
Council on 9 December 1999 is an important
terrorism. Work on a Council
recommendation on cooperation between risk assessment bodies is about to be finalised.

instrument

to fight

3.

(a) Member States cooperate in the framework of the Council and Europol. In the Council terrorism
experts of Member States meet
in the Terrorism Working Party and COTER group governed
respectively by dispositions of Titles V and VI of the TEU. Regular joint meetings of these groups
take place.

(b) Cooperation on the suppression of terrorism with non-EU partners takes place, in particular, in the
framework of the EU political dialogue on terrorism at expert level. In this context, the Troika of the
working group on terrorism (COTER) has meetings twice a year with the United States, as well as with
Russia and with the Associate countries. In these meetings, the two parties discuss trends on terrorism
and other issues of mutual interest.

Since 1997, the EU has also had a dialogue with the Mediterranean countries within the Barcelona process,
in the form of ad hoc meetings whose aim is to enhance cooperation on the suppression of terrorism.

In addition, the Council adopted on 13 April 2000 a Joint Action that will allow the EU to continue
providing for another three years counter-terrorism assistance to the Palestinian Authority. This joint
Action, adopted in 1997, reflects the EU coherent support to the Middle East Peace Process. This ten-
million euro programme aims at improving the capacities of Palestinian security services and civil police.

Regarding concrete action at the political level, the EU will, as appropriate:

(cid:129) encourage all States that have not yet done so to sign or ratify the international conventions against

terrorism, and encourage them to comply with these conventions;

(cid:129) put political pressure on countries which offer safe haven to terrorists. It can also take initiatives in

this regard, as well as condemn individual acts of terrorism based on the CFSP procedures.

(2001/C 113 E/041)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1867/00

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission

(9 June 2000)

Subject: Consequences of Chernobyl

The statistics provided by the Ukrainian Ministry of Health are horrifying:
fourteen years after the
Chernobyl disaster, three and a half million people are ill as a result of radioactive contamination, half of
whom are children; the number of deaths among the workers who cleaned up the affected areas has risen
to 52 000.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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18.4.2001

Given that 5 million people were exposed to radiation, of whom only 15 000 were evacuated:

1. Can the Commission forecast for how long the effects of contamination will continue to cause

casualties among the population of the Ukraine?

2. Has the Commission received accurate information from the Ukrainian authorities?

3. Are any projects and initiatives under way to avert these tragic consequences and eliminate the risks

connected with the continuing presence of the original power station?

4.

Is the Commission addressing the issue of nuclear safety in the course of enlargement negotiations?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(31 July 2000)

The Commission, as well as the Member States and the rest of the international community, has since the
beginning shown solidarity with the victims of the accident and a strong commitment to address the
consequences of the worst nuclear accident to date.

According to the recent report of the United Nations scientific committee on the effects of atomic
radiation (Unscear), issued in the beginning of June, there have been about 1 800 cases of thyroid cancer in
children who were exposed at the time of the Chernobyl accident, and if the current trend continues there
may be more cases to come. Furthermore, the scientific committee states that no evidence is available for a
major public health impact attributable to radiation exposure at this moment. There is no evidence of
increase in overall cancer incidence or mortality or in non-malignant disorders attributed to exposure to
ionising radiation. Also the risk of leukaemia, a cancer with a short latency period and considered as the
main concern immediately following the accident, does not seem to have increased. The great majority of
the population is not likely to experience serious health consequences from radiation from the Chernobyl
accident. It should be remembered, however, that around seven million people live in the contaminated
area and that the morbidity rate in these territories is significantly higher than in non-contaminated areas,
possibly also as a result of anxiety and stress. The Chernobyl accident has also had a huge economic
impact (cid:129) following independence about 20 % of the national gross product of Ukraine was devoted to
Chernobyl consequences.

In the aftermath of the accident, in 1992 the agreement between the Community and the Commonwealth
of Independent States for international collaboration on the consequences of the Chernobyl accident was
initiated to understand and master the effects of ionising radiation as regards health, environment and
emergency preparedness. The budget for this was around € 40 million. These research efforts were pursued
under the Fourth framework programme of nuclear fission and INCO Copernicus (€ 20 million). Several of
the projects conducted within these programmes, mainly in the area of radiobiology and cancer
epidemiology, are still running. Some of these projects are of direct benefit for the local population, for
example the project on the treatment of accident victims which was extremely helpful for the highly
exposed clean-up workers. The research projects on diagnosis of thyroid cancer in children and adults and
the optimisation of its treatment were beneficial to a large part of the population of the three countries.
Now a smaller number of projects are being supported in this field, mainly because many areas are in a
consolidation phase.

In 1994, the Community took the initiative to propose an action plan to Ukraine to close the Chernobyl
nuclear power plant and to offer in return increased co-operation in order to assist Ukraine in preparing
and implementing such a decision. This action plan was taken up by the group of seven most
industrialised countries (G7) and a memorandum of understanding on the closure of Chernobyl by the
year 2000 was signed in December 1995 between the government of Ukraine, the G7 countries and the
Commission. A very active co-operation programme was initiated in the areas of power sector reform,
energy investments, nuclear safety and social aspects.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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In total, the Community has granted around € 240 million on Chernobyl and Chernobyl-related projects
since the nuclear reactor exploded in 1986, divided in three main areas, namely development of the new
shelter for the Unit 3, assessment and remediation of the health and environmental consequences of the
disaster, and assistance for de-commissioning operations and development of power replacement capacity

In addition, the Commission announced during the latest pledging conference in Berlin on 5 July a new
pledge of € 100 million as contribution for the shelter fund. Individual Member States have also made
large contributions to the Chernobyl shelter fund.

On 5 June, President Kuchma announced that the last operating unit of the Chernobyl power plant will be
definitively shut down on 15 December 2000. This decision and the timing are in line with Ukraine(cid:146)s long-
standing commitment to the G7. It is a significant breakthrough that will be widely welcomed by the
international community as a whole.

In the context of enlargement the Commission has considered nuclear safety an extremely important issue
in the enlargement negotiations with the candidate countries. The Commission issued in July 1997 the
report (cid:145)Agenda 2000 for a stronger and wider union(cid:146), which placed the issue of nuclear safety in the
candidate countries of central and eastern Europe in a political perspective. In this document, it was clearly
stated that the Union must protect the life and health of its present and future citizens. This implies that
the applicants should cooperate fully in the efforts to bring their levels of nuclear safety up to international
standards. This principle has guided all negotiations with the candidate countries. In this context, the
Commission, in its annual country reports, dedicated to the progress in those countries, has included an
evaluation of the nuclear safety.

(2001/C 113 E/042)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1869/00

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission

(9 June 2000)

Subject: Health (cid:145)passport(cid:146) for EU citizens

Apparently in some EU countries there exists a kind of health card which is very useful for people
travelling abroad, as it contains information about the bearer(cid:146)s health history, blood group, allergies, etc.

1.

Could the Commission state the countries in which this useful document has been introduced?

2.
Does the Commission think that it would be a good idea (cid:129) in the light of the experience gained in
this area at national level (cid:129) to submit a proposal with a view to introducing a (cid:145)health passport(cid:146) in all the
Member States?

This would constitute an important health protection measure for anyone travelling abroad, provide
foreign health services with accurate information about the bearer if he requires emergency treatment and
help GPs make an accurate diagnosis of any diseases, particularly tropical diseases, that their patients
contract while travelling abroad.

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(26 July 2000)

In 1986, the Council, following among other things requests from the Parliament, adopted a resolution on
the adoption of a European emergency health card (1). This put forward a European model for a health
card on paper (the (cid:145)yellow card(cid:146)), to include certain information important for the emergency treatment of
the bearer of the card.