WRITTEN QUESTION E-3592/00 by Gordon Adam (PSE) to the Commission. Hydrocarbons research.
Date: 2000-11-22
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU research policy, hydrocarbon

19.6.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 174 E/85

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(16 January 2001)

Community support to the Cuban health sector can be seen in the detailed breakdown of the European
Communities humanitarian office (ECHO) assistance to Cuba in the last seven years. More specifically, the
sixth global plan consisted of the following elements: food, € 1 253 564; medicine, € 1 047 506; primary
products for medicine, € 908 628; hygiene equipment, € 374 275; small medicine instruments, € 759 115;
textiles, € 431 201; stomatology products, € 448 755; and others (Admin., contingencies, (cid:133)), € 1 766 956.
As concerns funding for infrastructure, ECHO funding was used, in a limited number of cases, to finance
micro-projects aimed at refurbishing hospitals in a very bad shape or to purchase small equipment.

Global Plan

Ophthalmic Neuropathy

Infectious diseases

Medical aid against asthma

Products for hospitals

Flooding

Breakdown of Humanitarian Aid to Cuba, from 1993 to 1999

(In euro)

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

9 994 500

15 000 000

8 000 000

8 000 000

7 000 000

7 000 000

5 500 000

495 000

480 000

500 000

330 000

Hurricane/cyclone relief

500 000

350 000

600 000

350 000

500 000

Raw materials for drugs/hygiene

3 510 000

Micro-projects

Rehabilitation of hospitals and
supply of humanitarian products

Disaster prevention

2 000 000

2 000 000

2 000 000

2 000 000

350 000

410 000

Source: Evaluation of Humanitarian Aid to Cuba, May 2000.

Total

7 805 000

13 854 500

15 000 000

8 600 000

10 350 000

9 850 000

11 410 000

The non-governmental organisation (NGO) co-financing budget line (B7 6000) has also been used to
support the Cuban health sector. In 1999, three NGO co-financed projects in the health sector came to
€ 1 567 712.

In addition, a programme of support to the economic reforms under B7-3110, currently under discussion,
contains provision of € 1 130 000 as assistance for the Ministry of Health/the Ministry of Public Finance
for the improvement of the use of resources in the health sector. The support will mainly be in the form
of technical assistance.

(2001/C 174 E/089)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3592/00

by Gordon Adam (PSE) to the Commission

(22 November 2000)

Subject: Hydrocarbons research

In the light of current widespread public concern within the European Union regarding the availability and
price of petroleum products:

(a) Has the Commission reassessed the relative priorities given to hydrocarbon research?

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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19.6.2001

(b) How does the Commission intend to utilise the Fifth Framework Programme to enable increased
production of hydrocarbons within the European Union by promoting research into improved
techniques to maximise extraction of hydrocarbon reserves?

(c) Given the need to increase the efficiency of hydrocarbons utilisation in order to reduce emissions and
dependence on oil imports into the European Union what new steps is the Commission taking to
encourage research in this area?

Answer given by Mr Busquin on behalf of the Commission

(19 January 2001)

During the first two years of the Fifth framework programme (FP5) the annual Community funding for the
exploration and production of hydrocarbons amounted to € 25 million. The annual Research and
technological development (RTD) funding from Member States for this sector is estimated to be around
€ 150 million. Community funding therefore forms approximately 15 % of the overall Community public
funding in this area. United States public funding for this sector is USD 200 million per year.

(a) and (b) The average yearly discovery of new oil deposits (at present oil price) during the last 10 years,
is around 10-15 % of oil discoveries during the sixties. As the lifetime of oil wells is around 40 years,
oil production may be expected to decrease by 2010-2015. Although Europe has a small proportion
of total world oil reserves (some 2 % for the European economic area (EEA)), these can play an
important strategic role in the Community(cid:146)s security of supply. To keep up or increase oil production,
new oil deposits, where oil extraction is more expensive, could be brought into production. This will
require huge investments for oil exploration and production in deep seas and difficult environments,
to produce oil, which will be more expensive. As compared to these investments, the Community
funding of € 50 million, for the first two years of FP5, can only have a very limited impact. Priority
has therefore been given to RTD aiming at cost reduction of other clean non-nuclear energy (NNE)
technologies, with zero or low carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions such as renewable energies and fuel
cells, where financial resources are often scarce. This is reflected by the midterm revision of the work
programme for the Energy part of the Thematic Programme on Energy, Environment and Sustainable
Development (recently approved in October 2000). While, exploration and extraction of hydrocarbons
is not amongst the priority areas ((cid:145)Target Actions(cid:146)) for 2001 and 2002 for which 60 % of the budget
has been allocated, RTD on this topic is however covered in the general part of the programme for
which the remaining 40 % funding is available.

(c) The issues related to the dependence on oil imports and reduction of CO2 and pollutant emissions are
discussed in the Commission(cid:146)s green paper (cid:145)Towards a European Strategy for the security of energy
supply(cid:146) (1). The green paper identifies structural weaknesses in Europe(cid:146)s energy supply,
including
dependence on external supplies, in particular of hydrocarbons, and growing demand. These weak-
nesses are creating risks to Europe(cid:146)s energy supply which could increase over the coming decades.
One of the major weaknesses concerns the transport sector. The transport sector in the Community is
almost 100 % dependent on oil, consumes almost 70 % of all oil in the Community, (of which 75 % is
imported from third countries) and is the fastest growing consumer of energy. Further, 90 % of the
rise in CO2 emissions in the Community from 1990-2010 will be attributable to transport. The green
paper sees the need for a European strategy in order to minimize the risks to energy supply, within
the framework of enlargement, sustainable development and market liberalisation. One of the focuses
for action is the transport sector. As well as demand-side policies, the green paper calls for efforts to
develop alternative fuels to hydrocarbons, including hydrogen and biofuels. In this context, the above-
mentioned revised work programme includes a Target Action on Clean Transport Fuels which aims at
a rapid development of clean biofuels (which have zero net CO2 emissions) and clean fuels derived

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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from natural gas (which have lower CO2 and pollutant emissions than oil). This will particularly help
to reduce the dependence on oil in the transport sector. This Target Action also includes combustion
research aiming at a minimization of pollutant emissions and an optimisation of the efficiency.

(1) COM(2000) 769 final.

(2001/C 174 E/090)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3598/00

by Juan Naranjo Escobar (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(22 November 2000)

Subject: EU Action Plan on Drugs

Can the Commission say what steps it has taken, following adoption of the EU Action Plan on Drugs, to
tighten up its internal coordination on drugs and safeguard the transparency and cohesion of the many
budget headings allocated to drugs? Can it submit a table showing these various headings for 2000 and
2001? Can it confirm that it intends to carry out an external assessment of all its programmes on drugs, as
has just been done for the EMCDDA?

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(18 January 2001)

Following the endorsement of the Union Action Plan on Drugs (2000-2004) at Feira in June 2000, the
Commission is analysing the impact of the Action Plan on its activities over the next five years, both in
terms of its priorities and the allocation of its resources. This analysis will also cover the issue of
coordination of drug related activities within the Commission.

A table summarising the drugs budget lines has been prepared and a copy is sent directly to the
Honourable Member and to Parliament(cid:146)s Secretariat.

The Commission put great emphasis on evaluation in its Communication of May 1999 on an Union
Action Plan to Combat Drugs (2000-2004) (1), and regularly evaluates its programmes. For example, an
interim evaluation of the Community Action Programme on the Prevention of Drug Dependence was
carried out last year, and North-South Cooperation in the fight against drugs is being evaluated at the
moment. As stated in point 2.2.1 of the Action Plan, the Commission intends to organise appropriate
evaluations of the Drugs Strategy (2000-2004) at mid-term and on completion and to present them to the
Council and the Parliament.

(1) COM(1999) 239 final.

(2001/C 174 E/091)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3600/00

by Luciano Caveri (ELDR) to the Commission

(22 November 2000)

Subject: The (cid:145)de minimis(cid:146) rule

It is becoming increasingly apparent that the objectives of the European funds allocated to education and
training are being thwarted by the inflexible rules to protect competition with which firms must comply if
they are to obtain such funding. The (cid:145)de minimis(cid:146) rule, which fixes a ceiling of € 100 000 over a three-year
period for every firm applying for such funds, reflects a narrow view of training as something that benefits
only the undertaking involved, disregards its beneficial effects on individual employees(cid:146) skills and the
community at large and seems to be at odds with the objectives of the European Social Fund in terms of
improving the employment market.