WRITTEN QUESTION E-0832/01 by Stavros Xarchakos (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Rate of progress with the Greek National Land Registry.
Date: 2001-03-20
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Regional Development Fund, Greece, land register, operational programme

18.9.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 261 E/205

(cid:129) establishing a global tiered pricing system for pharmaceuticals and reducing tariffs and other costs on

pharmaceuticals;

(cid:129) supporting WTO developing country members in implementing the TRIPs Agreement and promoting
an international discussion on the link between the Agreement and public health protection issues;

(cid:129) strengthening and increasing support for research and development in particular for vaccines.

This Programme for Action forms the basis of the Commission(cid:146)s policy with regard to communicable
Diseases and poverty reduction, including the issue of access to affordable medicines.

(1) COM(2001) 96.published on the website: http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/com/cnc/2000/com2000_0585en02.pdf

and http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/com/cnc/2001/com2001_0096en01.pdf.

(2001/C 261 E/233)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0832/01

by Stavros Xarchakos (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Rate of progress with the Greek National Land Registry

(20 March 2001)

The National Land Registry has often been described in Greece as the biggest of all the major projects. Its
aim is to draw up a detailed inventory of private and public real property in order to eliminate
misappropriation of public land and the destruction of forest by fire, and effectively to protect the private
property of all Greek citizens. The European Union is financing this extremely costly project, though it
does not seem to be progressing at the required rate, pushing its completion date into the distant future
despite continuous government assurances to the contrary.

Will the Commission say how much funding in total the Community has committed for the completion of
the Greek National Land Registry and what amount has been utilised to date? What is the Commission(cid:146)s
appraisal of the rate of progress of the entire project? How many years does the Commission calculate it
will take to complete the project at the rate it has progressed of late? Are details available of the period of
time it took to complete similar projects in other Member States?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(8 May 2001)

The national land register project is receiving Community assistance under the environment operational
programme (OP) of the second Community support framework for Greece in the 1994-1999 program-
ming period.

The initial total cost of the project was € 172 million. Following amendment of the OP referred to above,
total cost comes to € 138,9 million with 75 % assistance under the European Regional
the current
Development Fund.

The agency responsible for carrying out the project has committed all the appropriations. To date, 96 % of
the Community appropriations have been used up.

The project is not being carried out at a satisfactory speed. Whereas the relevant OP data forecast an
operational land register covering 28 223 km2 by the end of 2001, available figures indicate that current
work covers only 8 000 km2 and that the rate of progress corresponds to only 21 % of the forecasts.

C 261 E/206

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.9.2001

At the current rate the project will clearly take many years to complete, assuming that the requisite funds
are available. The Commission is not at this stage able to say exactly how long the project will take,
however.

No similar projects have been undertaken in other Member States, since they have each for many years
possessed a land register compiled on widely differing bases using very different techniques.

(2001/C 261 E/234)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0839/01

by Anders Wijkman (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(13 March 2001)

Subject: M(cid:252)hlenberger Loch

The M(cid:252)hlenberger Loch, near Hamburg, Germany, the largest freshwater tidal mudflat in the European
Union, is designated a Natura 2000 site under (a) Council Directive 79/409/EEC (1) on the conservation of
wild birds and (b) Council Directive 92/43/EEC (2) on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild
fauna and flora.

Is it true that the German Federal Chancellor wrote a letter dated 15 March 2000 to the President of the
Commission, requesting as a matter of urgency that the Commission give its approval to the proposed
Airbus project involving developments liable to damage the ecological status of the M(cid:252)hlenberger Loch?

Is it true that, shortly after the arrival of this letter, the Commission lifted its objections to development of
the site based on Article 6(4) of the Habitats Directive?

Is the Commission entirely satisfied that all the requirements under Article 6(4) specific to a priority
habitat have been fulfilled?

(1) OJ L 103, 25.4.1979, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 206, 22.7.1992, p. 7.

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

(26 April 2001)

In case of certain plans or projects, which have according to a nature assessment pursuant to Article 6(3)
of Directive 92/43/EEC (1) (Habitats Directive) negative implications for a Natura 2000 site (i.e. significant
adverse effects in view of the site(cid:146)s conservation objectives), the plan or project concerned may despite of
the negative result be carried out only under the following conditions set out in Article 6(4) of the
Directive, which are resumed as follows:

a) Absence of alternative solutions.

b)

Existence of imperative reasons of overriding public interest, i.e. in case the site hosts priority natural
habitat types and/or priority species, those interests must be related to human health or public safety
considerations, to beneficial consequences of primary importance for the environment, or, further to
an opinion of the Commission, to other imperative reasons of overriding public interest.

c) Need to take all compensatory measures necessary to ensure the overall coherence of Natura 2000

and to inform the Commission thereof.