WRITTEN QUESTION E-3023/00 by María Sornosa Martínez (PSE) to the Commission. Planned construction of the La Cañada dam on the Turia River (Valencia, Spain).
Date: 2000-09-26
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Community of Valencia, Spain, application of EU law, competence of the Member States, engineering structure, environmental impact, protection of animal life, protection of plant life

22.5.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 151 E/41

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(17 October 2000)

Respect for Council Regulation (EC) No 1239/98 of 8 June 1998 amending Regulation (EC) No 894/97
laying down certain technical measures for the conservation of fishery resources is one of the Commis-
sion(cid:146)s priorities every year in the policing of fishing. Commission inspectors regularly take part in
inspection operations on land and sea organised by the Member States concerned.

For the outcome of the policing carried out the Honourable Member is requested to refer to the
Commission(cid:146)s report to Parliament on the application in 1998 and 1999 of Community legislation on
the use of drift nets to catch highly migratory species in the North-East Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

Since 1998 the numbers of vessels authorised by Member States to fish for albacore using drift nets have
been:

France:
(cid:129) Atlantic
(cid:129) Mediterranean

Spain:
(cid:129) Atlantic
(cid:129) Mediterranean

Ireland

United Kingdom

Italy

1998

45
(1) 109

0
nd

18

6

321

1999

41
109

0
53

18

6

218

2000

42
(2) nd

0
34

18

6

102

Indicative number of French vessels using drift nets in the Mediterranean.

(1)
(2) Not determined.

(2001/C 151 E/052)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3023/00

by Mar(cid:237)a Sornosa Mart(cid:237)nez (PSE) to the Commission

(26 September 2000)

Subject: Planned construction of the La Caæada dam on the Turia River (Valencia, Spain)

The project involving the construction of a dam to control the waters in the lower stretch of the Turia
River (the La Caæada dam), which is currently at the consultation stage and which will affect the townships
of Manises, Riba-roja and Paterna, has led to protests from local people who do not believe such a project
to be necessary. According to the explanatory statement relating to the project, the latter is intended to
improve and modernise irrigation in order to optimise the use of the available resources by reducing actual
demand, whereas the local people affected consider that the planned dam will do nothing to improve
irrigation infrastructure since it will merely provide a means of water retention.

Furthermore, the local people maintain that the environmental impact assessment carried out on behalf of
the Spanish Environment Ministry presents major shortcomings as regards the way in which it describes,
classifies and assesses the area concerned and also the species of flora and fauna found in the area. The
study, which concludes that the building of the dam will have a (cid:145)moderate negative(cid:146) impact, has been
rejected by local environmental organisations and associations concerned with the protection of Mediter-
ranean woodlands, who have submitted alternative studies which show that many species of fauna and
flora included in Annex I (priority conservation) of the (cid:145)habitat(cid:146) Directive 92/43/EEC (1) (e.g. Sal(cid:237)s alba,
populus alba) and Directive 79/409/EEC (2) on birds (e.g. kingfishers, the common bittern and the purple
heron) and which are also protected under a decree issued by the Valencia Regional Government would be
seriously threatened if the dam were to be built.

C 151 E/42

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

22.5.2001

Furthermore, it should be pointed out that the local authorities of the townships concerned have asked the
regional government to have the area which the dam would occupy declared a Municipal Nature Area.
Their request was rejected by the regional government but has recently been re-submitted.

In view of the above facts, does the Commission not consider Directives 92/43/EEC and 79/409/EEC to
have been clearly infringed as regards species which, even though they are included in the annexes to
those directives, are nonetheless threatened by the projected La Caæada dam?

Does it believe that,
correctly applied?

in this case, Directive 97/11/EEC (3) on environmental

impact studies has been

(1) OJ L 206, 22.7.1992, p. 7.
(2) OJ L 103, 25.4.1979, p. 1.
(3) OJ L 73, 14.3.1997, p. 5.

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

(13 November 2000)

The Commission had not been aware of the project mentioned by the Honourable Member.

However, in the light of the Honourable Member(cid:146)s question, it is confirmed that the area in question has
not been designated as a (cid:145)special bird conservation area(cid:146) by Spain under Council Directive 79/409/EEC of
2 April 1979 on the conservation of wild birds. Nor is this area considered to be an (cid:145)area of relevance to
birds(cid:146).

This area has not been put forward by Spain for inclusion in the Natura 2000 network in pursuance of
Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of flora and
fauna. Furthermore the Commission does not have any details in its possession proving that it is required
to be so.

At the moment no precise evidence shows that there has been an infringement of Directives 92/43/EEC
and 97/409/EEC. The projected barrages and other water-retention structures are subject to a mandatory
impact assessment under Council Directive 97/11/EEC of 3 March 1997, amending Directive 85/337/EEC
on the assessment of the impact of certain public and private projects on the environment, where if the
amount of water retained and stored on a permanent basis is less than ten cubic hectometres, said projects
must be subjected to that procedure if Member States feel that their characteristics so require. In any case,
according to the information provided in this written question, the project referred to above was submitted
to the impact procedure as provided for in Directive 97/11/EC.

In the light of the information available and since no infringement whatsoever of the Community laws in
force can be suspected, the Commission thus feels that this is entirely a matter for the Spanish authorities.

(2001/C 151 E/053)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3027/00

by Elisabeth Jeggle (PPE-DE), Karl von Wogau (PPE-DE)
and Rainer Wieland (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(26 September 2000)

Subject: Notice on town-twinning grants

In the context of the award of town-twinning grants, people from all parts of Europe have in the past sat
round the table together in order to get to know one another, exchange experiences, work out projects
and seek common solutions to problems. There is no doubt that the flexible promotion of town-twinning
up to now has helped to develop close ties between people in Europe.