WRITTEN QUESTION P-0342/01 by Reinhold Messner (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. Community contribution to tourist infrastructure in Valesia and on Monterosa.
Date: 2001-02-06
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU financing, Piedmont, Valle d'Aosta, countryside conservation, environmental impact, tourist infrastructure

11.12.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 350 E/15

(cid:129) increase awareness in the United States for the political, economic and cultural importance of the
transatlantic relationship, especially the increasing scope of Community-United States relations.

More information about the European Union Centres in the United States can be found in the internet at:
http://www.eucenters.org/.

(2001/C 350 E/016)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0342/01

by Reinhold Messner (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(6 February 2001)

Subject: Community contribution to tourist infrastructure in Valesia and on Monterosa

In its answer to my Written Question P-3610/00 (1), the Commission said that it was not aware of the
situation described and would take the appropriate steps to gather detailed information on the subject and
ensure compliance with Community law.

60 % of the Community contribution of ITL 4 943 billion for the cableway between Valsesia and Valle di
Gressoney has been allocated, with the remainder to be made available once the project has been
approved.

This contribution has actually been used for a road rising to a height of 2 500 m, which was built without
the necessary authorisations and about which the Committee for the Defence of Monterosa has lodged
regular complaints with the relevant authorities (without receiving any reply).

Does the Commission not think that the payment of the remainder of the Community contribution should
be suspended until the inquiry procedure has been completed, particularly as regards the protection of the
site of Community importance concerned by the project in question?

(1) OJ C 163 E, 6.6.2001, p. 179.

Supplementary answer
given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(28 June 2001)

According to information received from the Piedmont Region authorities, no legal proceedings have been
initiated in respect of the project.

The road the Honourable Member refers to was built on the authorisation of the Direzione Economia
Montana e Foreste (cid:129) Settore Gestione Proprieta Forestali Regionali e Vivaistiche (1) and the Direzione
Pianificazione e Gestione Urbanistica (cid:129) Settore Gestione Beni Ambientali (2) of the Piedmont Region.

The Commission points out that those authorisations stipulate that once the works for the cableway are
completed, the road, which is temporary and necessary for the works in question, is to be covered over
with grass and the initial section replanted with beech.

As regards the cable-car project within the proposed Site of Community Importance (pSCI) under Council
Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and
flora (3), mentioned by the Honourable Member in his earlier Written Question P-3610/00 (4),
the
Commission has opened an own-initiative case and sent a request for information to the Italian authorities,
which have not yet replied.

Article 6 of the abovementioned Directive provides for protection requirements with reference to Special
Conservation Areas (SCA). Under Article 4(5) of that Directive, these requirements also apply to Sites of
Community Importance (SCI) where they are adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in

C 350 E/16

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11.12.2001

Article 4(2) on the basis of the list of pSCI. At present, SCA have not been designated and the list of the
SCI has not been adopted. However, with reference to pSCI, in particular where they include priority
habitats and species, Member States have certain obligations to act in such a way as to ensure that the
aims of the Directive are not jeopardised. Even in the absence of a Community list of protected habitats
and species, Member States are advised at least to abstain from all activities that may cause a proposed site
to deteriorate.

Should the Commission learn that Community law is being breached in the specific case, as the guardian
including possible recourse to
of the EC Treaty it will not hesitate to take all necessary measures,
infringement procedures under Article 226 (ex-Article 169) of the EC Treaty.

(1) Decision No 370 of 11 April 2000.
(2) Decision No 37 of 31 March 2000.
(3) OJ L 206, 22.7.1992.
(4) OJ C 163 E, 6.6.2001.

(2001/C 350 E/017)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0456/01

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) and Gianfranco Fini (UEN) to the Commission

(19 February 2001)

Subject: Food safety, delays and connivance

In the wake of the increasing alarm over (cid:145)mad cow(cid:146) disease and the legitimate fears of the public, controls
on foodstuffs have been stepped up, albeit with some delay.

The Italian press, referring to investigations conducted by the Italian anti-adulteration units (NAS), has
declared that a third of all products examined were found to be illegal in one way or another. The food
safety emergency which has been plaguing Europe for a few years has concerned primarily BSE (bovine
spongiform encephalopathy), discovered in Great Britain, dioxin-contaminated chickens bred in Belgium
this has been done in absolute contempt of
and the Netherlands, and antibiotic-reared pigs. All
Community legislation

The current state of affairs is: fresh BSE scandals in France, Germany and Italy; the production, sale and
export of banned animal meal by Great Britain and other Community countries; a delay by the
Commission in deciding which butchered parts should be withdrawn from the market and what sanctions
to impose on those countries which, because of non-existent controls or connivance, allowed the
production and sale of foodstuffs which were harmful to health and caused incurable diseases.

In the light of this, can the Commission:

1.

2.

State the reasons for the delay in setting up the Food Safety Agency which was proposed by the
Commission at the start of its term of office and supported by Parliament.

Launch a new task force to monitor the problem, pending the entry into operation of the Food Safety
Agency; report all cases of fraud and draw up a guide for all EU consumers to be promoted through
initiate
the media and to help consumers purchase foods which do not put their health at risk;
infringement proceedings against those countries,
including Italy, which have failed to fulfil their
obligations by violating the most basic consumer protection rules; propose that Member States
introduce sweeping, root-and-branch controls with specific deadlines for delivering the results. On the
basis of these results measures could be taken, also to prevent any kind of harmful substances relating
to the food sector from being surreptitiously sold in the EU or exported to third countries.