WRITTEN QUESTION P-3373/00 by Salvador Garriga Polledo (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Environmental impact and Community funding of projects.
Date: 2000-10-25
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU financing, Principality of Asturias, Spain, architectural heritage, environmental impact, infringement of EU law, water treatment

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