WRITTEN QUESTION E-3921/00 by Michl Ebner (PPE-DE) to the Commission. The Dolomites as a European cultural heritage site.
Date: 2000-12-13
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Alpine Region, European social policy, Italy, competence of the Member States, heritage protection

19.6.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 174 E/187

Strictly legally speaking there is a case to disqualify beaches if salmonella/enterovirus are found to be
present and to pursue Member States for not testing for salmonella and/or enterovirus. However, there is
no statistical information to allow for a substantiated and meaningful evaluation of the situation across the
Community. The Commission is currently assessing what action has been taken in all Member States to
follow-up these parameters.

(2001/C 174 E/198)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3921/00

by Michl Ebner (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(13 December 2000)

Subject: The Dolomites as a European cultural heritage site

Does the Commission agree that it would be appropriate officially to declare the Dolomites a European
cultural heritage site?

Answer given by Ms Reding on behalf of the Commission

(8 February 2001)

Article 151 (ex Article 128) of the EC Treaty gives the Community only limited powers in the area of
culture. Action by the Community must be aimed at encouraging cooperation between Member States and,
if necessary, supporting and supplementing their action in a certain number of areas,
including the
protection, preservation and development of the cultural heritage. This objective is pursued through the
Culture 2000 programme, the new framework programme to promote cultural cooperation in Europe.

Consequently, the Community is not in a position to declare that a natural site such as the Dolomites
should be listed as a (cid:145)European cultural heritage site(cid:146). Even so, the Commission would point out to the
Honourable Member that the fact of listing a site as forming part of the cultural heritage does not
necessarily mean that it is protected. In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, protection regimes
are the exclusive responsibility of the Member States.

(2001/C 174 E/199)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3922/00

by Anna Karamanou (PSE) to the Council

(20 December 2000)

Subject: Increase in xenophobia in Europe

The annual report recently published by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia
notes a significant increase in racism in the European Union. Dr Beate Winkler, the Director of the Centre,
noted that Sweden, France, Germany and many other countries are showing an alarming rise in cases of
racist violence, the main victims of which are African and Arab immigrants, Albanians and Roma, while at
the same time there has also been an increase in attacks on synagogues, Jewish cemeteries, and mosques.
The 1999 report by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia also stresses the
significant increase in the use of the Internet by neo-Nazi organisations to promote their political and
racist propaganda.

The declaration by the European Conference against Racism held in Strasbourg last month stresses that
Europe is a community of shared values, multicultural in its past, present and future. How effective are the
measures taken by the Council and in what way is it possible to honour the Strasbourg commitments to
combat racism and racist discrimination, xenophobia, religious fanaticism, intolerance, anti-Semitism and
Islamophobia, which threaten democratic societies and their fundamental values?