WRITTEN QUESTION P-3374/00 by Luciana Sbarbati (ELDR) to the Commission. Civil protection and natural disasters.
Date: 2000-10-25
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU environmental policy, aid to disaster victims, civil defence, natural disaster

C 151 E/152

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

22.5.2001

(2001/C 151 E/171)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3373/00

by Salvador Garriga Polledo (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Environmental impact and Community funding of projects

(25 October 2000)

Authorisation has been granted for the construction of a sewage treatment plant in the community of
Corias, situated in the municipality of Cangas de Narcea (Asturias). The project in question is to be part-
financed with European Union funds.

The choice of site for the plant, which the EU is helping to fund, may have an irreversible effect on the
historical and artistic heritage of the area, namely the Monastery of St John the Baptist in Corias, which
has stood for a thousand years and was designated a national historic monument in 1982.

Furthermore, the authorisation breached the rules in force during the processing thereof, in that it has not
been accompanied by an environmental impact assessment or a report by the municipal architect.

In these circumstances, will the Commission give its views on the fact that Community funding intended
for environmental purposes will in fact serve to damage historical and artistic heritage, when another site
could be found which would prevent such damage and thus comply with the Treaty on European Union,
in which culture now features permanently in the Union(cid:146)s sphere of activity?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(4 December 2000)

According to the information available to the Commission, the project in question is not going ahead at
the present time and no structural
funds are allocated to it. Should the Honourable Member have
information to the contrary, the Commission would be pleased to pursue the matter further with the
Spanish authorities.

(2001/C 151 E/172)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3374/00

by Luciana Sbarbati (ELDR) to the Commission

(25 October 2000)

Subject: Civil protection and natural disasters

The recent dramatic events that have hit residents of the Po basin and the south of Italy,
last year(cid:146)s
environmental disasters in France and other EU countries and the damage caused this summer by fires
demonstrate the need to improve communication between the various departments in Member States
responsible for civil protection. There is an urgent need, in particular, to divide up and coordinate available
resources with a view to ensuring that
interventions are well
coordinated, especially for vulnerable sections of the populations such as the ill, the young and the elderly.

financial, medical and psycho-social

Does the Commission intend to make sure that a possible European intervention force, which would join
the numerous help centres and crisis management units and committees under EU authority, operates in a
coordinated and consistent manner?

Can the Commission state whether it has already drawn up plans for coordination between the
Commission and the Member States, between its own various Directorates-General and between the civil
protection and volunteer organisations operating in the Member States in the event of a serious
emergency?

Can the Commission state whether it plans to give priority to the regions which have been particularly
badly hit when a decision is next taken on those Italian regions eligible under the Structural Funds?

Does the Commission intend,
in the longer term, to reinstate the budget line (cid:145)urgent aid for natural
disasters(cid:146) which was removed several years ago but mentioned on 30 March 2000 in a Parliament
resolution on the guidelines for the 2001 budget procedure (cid:129) Section III (cid:129) Commission, requesting the

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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reinstatement in the Commission(cid:146)s budget of a budget line designed to help those in the European Union
who had suffered natural disasters such as earthquakes, fires, coastal erosion or landslides? Does it intend,
specifically, to prioritise the funding of psychological support measures for victims of disasters of this
kind?

Can the Commission state what consideration has been given to the issue of
consequences of hydrogeological disruption in at-risk areas?

the environmental

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

(4 December 2000)

The Commission deeply regrets the serious damage and loss of life that have tragically taken place in the
North-West of Italy.

As regards the coordination between the Member States and,
in particular, between the civil-defence
intervention teams in the Member States, the Commission would ask the Honourable Member to refer to
the proposal for a Council Decision of 27 September 2000 establishing a Commission mechanism for the
coordination of Civil Protection intervention in the event of emergencies (1).

Moreover the list of eligible regions covered by Structural-Fund objective No 1 has been settled for the
entire 2000-2006 period and can therefore not be altered.

On 27 July 2000 the Commission adopted a list of the Italian areas that are eligible under objective No 2
of said funds. That list is likewise valid up to 31 December 2006. However, in pursuance of Article 4(11)
of Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/99 of 21 June 1999 laying down general provisions on the Structural
Funds (2), the Commission, acting on a proposal from a Member State, may, where there is a serious crisis
in a region, amend a list of areas during 2003 without, however, increasing the total eligible population of
each region concerned. On this occasion account could indeed be taken of the particularly hard hit regions
and territories within Italy.

As regards the period beyond 2006, the Commission will, during January 2001, adopt the second report
on cohesion, which will launch the debate on the future of the Community(cid:146)s regional policy.

As the Commission explained to Parliament on 25 October 2000 (3), with regard to financial help for
affected areas and reinstating the budget line for emergency aid in the event of natural disasters: since there
are other possible means of Community support and in view of the financial and human resources
available, it considers that other types of action would require a higher priority at this stage.

Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and
private projects on the environment (4) amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997 (5), (cid:129) the
environmental impact assessment (EIA) Directive (cid:129) does not cover cases of natural catastrophes.

(1) COM(2000) 593 final.
(2) OJ L 161, 26.6.1999.
(3) Debates of the European Parliament (October 2000).
(4) OJ L 175, 5.7.1985.
(5) OJ L 73, 14.3.1997.

(2001/C 151 E/173)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3376/00

by Ursula Schleicher (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Positive list of medicinal products in Germany

(3 November 2000)

Work is reportedly going on in Germany at present on drawing up a positive list of medicinal products.
German pharmaceutical manufacturers consider that, because of the Directive relating to the transparency
of measures regulating the pricing of medicinal products for human use and their inclusion in the scope of