WRITTEN QUESTION P-2070/01 by Joachim Wuermeling (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Cooperation to promote sustainable urban development - call for proposals in OJ C 122, 25.4.2001.
Date: 2001-07-03
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: invitation to tender, linguistic discrimination, use of languages

C 40 E/178

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

14.2.2002

(2002/C 40 E/191)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2070/01

by Joachim Wuermeling (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(3 July 2001)

Subject: Cooperation to promote sustainable urban development (cid:129) call

for proposals in OJ C 122,

25.4.2001

The documentation for the above programme is available only in English and French. This is a flagrant
breach of the principle of equal status for the various languages. The result is that interested municipalities
and towns from other language areas are de facto excluded from taking part in the call for proposals.
Small municipalities in particular cannot be expected to possess advanced linguistic skills.

When will the Commission translate the above documentation into German?

Will the Commission re-open the call for proposals once the necessary translations are available?

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

(5 September 2001)

The call for the submission of proposals under a Community framework for co-operation to promote
sustainable urban development, published in the Official Journal (1),
is addressed to networks of local
authorities originating from at least four Member States and possibly also of cities and towns of Central
and Eastern European Countries, Cyprus and Malta as well as of other countries which have association
agreement with the Community. The participation of small towns is not excluded since they may belong
to one of these networks.

The availability of the application documents in two official languages only (cid:129) French and English (cid:129) has to
be understood against this background as well as by the time limits set for considering funding proposal
still in 2001.

(1) OJ C 122, 25.4.2001, p 11.

(2002/C 40 E/192)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2074/01

by Giuseppe Pisicchio (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Public safety and environmental protection in Europe

(13 July 2001)

There can be no question that the EU accords a great deal of importance to public safety, environmental
protection and saving energy.

A survey carried out by ETRTO (European Tyre and Rim Technical Organisation) has shown that 70 % of
the tyres fitted to motor vehicles in Europe are under-inflated, resulting in higher fuel consumption (and
thereby an increase of between 5 and 25 % in CO2 emissions) and a sharp reduction in the useful life of
the tyres (which is between 20 and 50 % shorter than under normal conditions). According to the UTWG
(Used Tyre Working Group), an organisation which monitors the use and disposal of tyres in the United
Kingdom, drivers get through approximately 35 million tyres each year in Europe, causing enormous
disposal problems.

According to the CARE Community database on road accidents (Decision 93/704/EC (1) of 30 November
1993), tyre and tyre pressure problems are a factor in 1,4 % of fatal accidents in the EU Member States.