WRITTEN QUESTION P-2826/00 by Dirk Sterckx (ELDR) to the Commission. Construction, with European financial aid, of a factory manufacturing concrete in an agricultural area in Portugal.
Date: 2000-09-04
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Portugal, concrete, environmental impact, environmental protection, location of industry

C 136 E/102

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

8.5.2001

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(6 October 2000)

The EC Treaty does not specify any minimum age with respect to the free movement of labour within the
Community.

It is important to note that Member States must observe the terms of Council Directive 94/33/EC of
22 June 1994 on the protection of young people at work (1), which provides in particular that Member
States must ensure that the minimum working or employment age is not lower than the minimum age at
which compulsory full-time schooling ends or 15 years in any event. In Spain, France and Sweden, the
minimum working age is set at 16 years. In the other Member States the minimum age is 15.

(1) OJ L 216, 20.8.1994.

(2001/C 136 E/117)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2826/00

by Dirk Sterckx (ELDR) to the Commission

(4 September 2000)

Subject: Construction, with European financial aid, of a factory manufacturing concrete in an agricultural

area in Portugal

It is reported that Gon(cid:231)alves e Filhos Lda, a Portuguese company manufacturing concrete, has bought a
wooded nature reserve covering several hectares in the district of Oliveira do Hospital. This in an area
which is ecologically very valuable and principally devoted to agriculture. No environmental
impact
assessment has been drawn up in respect of this project. Apparently, the trees and undergrowth have
already been cleared, and work to level the site has now begun.

Is the Commission aware of this project? If not, can it investigate it? If it is so aware, is it true that the
project is being carried out with European financial aid? If so, does that not breach the basic rules
governing the Structural Funds which stipulate that any aid granted must be used in the context of a
comprehensive and integrated strategy for sustainable development and emphasise that an improvement in
the quality of the environment must be the objective?

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

(6 October 2000)

Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985, on the assessment of the effects of certain public and
private projects on the environment (1) does not
list as a separate category of projects (cid:145)concrete
manufacturing companies(cid:146).

In general, depending on which elements are used for the manufacture of concrete, such as using asbestos
for producing (cid:145)soft concrete(cid:146), a concrete manufacturing installation could become an (cid:145)installation for the
processing and transformation of asbestos and products containing asbestos(cid:146) which would be covered by
annex I of Directive 85/337/EC and in such case require an environmental impact assessment (EIA).

Another scenario could be that an integrated plant (encompassing raw material production and the
concrete manufacturing process) is constructed near to the sources of the raw material. Depending on
the environmental significance of such activities, an EIA might be required for the extraction of minerals.

The Commission is, however, not in the possession of more detailed information about the project in
question which would give reason for such conclusions.

The project mentioned by the Honourable Member does not receive finance under the structural funds.

(1) OJ L 175, 5.7.1985.