WRITTEN QUESTION E-0834/01 by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Council. Organised environmental crime in European countries.
Date: 2001-03-28
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU environmental policy, EU financing, environmental offence, environmental protection, hazardous waste, organised crime, unauthorised dumping, waste disposal, water treatment

C 340 E/106

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

4.12.2001

(2001/C 340 E/121)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0834/01

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Council

(28 March 2001)

Subject: Organised environmental crime in European countries

(cid:129) Criminal organisations which harm the environment
in many European countries,

(the (cid:145)eco-mafia(cid:146)) have become excessively
powerful
including Italy. This (cid:145)eco-Mafia(cid:146) makes billions by illegally
disposing of highly toxic waste which then becomes an ecological time-bomb, destroying the health
not only of the current population but of future generations, who will be irredeemably condemned by
polluted water, soil and air.

(cid:129) Examples of such activities were recently shown on Italian public television channels. Moreover,
members of the city council and the decentralised local authority of Milan have recently submitted an
alarming complaint concerning the risk of leakage of dioxins contained in drums illegally buried deep
underground, close to the water-table,
in the area earmarked for the construction of Milan(cid:146)s new
purification plant. This new plant has been approved by the EU, which has already called for the work
to begin.

(cid:129) Given that construction of the purification plant has become urgent and

(cid:129) that the (cid:145)eco-Mafia(cid:146) has enormous capacities to thwart checks of any kind,

Can the Council state:

1. whether it plans to take action in support of Milan, so that the decontamination can be carried out as
carefully as possible, enabling an immediate start to be made on the construction of the purification
plant;

2. whether or not it considers it necessary to set up a task-force,

in which all the Member States
participate, to identify and decontaminate illegal dumps of toxic waste and to take legal action, both in
individual countries and at Community level, against the various criminal organisations which harm
the environment, making use of Interpol and public health and environmental organisations?

Reply

(16 July 2001)

The Council fully shares the concerns voiced by the Honourable Member regarding the need to ensure that
toxic waste is disposed of in compliance with the regulations in force, so as to avoid accidents like that
which occurred at Seveso.

The Council would nevertheless point out that it is the Commission which is responsible for administering
aid allocated in that context. The Honourable Member is therefore invited to contact the Commission with
regard to the safety and efficiency of the work to be carried out.

For the rest, it will be for the competent national authorities to seek specialist legal and technical advice as
they see fit.

(2001/C 340 E/122)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0851/01

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(22 March 2001)

Subject: Budget positions of eurozone members

Will the Commission estimate, on the basis of the econometric models available to it, the impact on
eurozone interest rates of a one percentage point tightening or loosening in the structural (cyclically
adjusted) budget position of each of the eurozone members?