WRITTEN QUESTION P-2118/01 by Christos Folias (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Asbestos in Brussels European School I at Uccle.
Date: 2001-07-10
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Belgium, European school, asbestos, building safety, competence of the Member States, educational institution

18.4.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 93 E/63

(2002/C 93 E/079)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2118/01

by Christos Folias (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(10 July 2001)

Subject: Asbestos in Brussels European School I at Uccle

The school year just ended began for pupils of the European School I in Brussels (Uccle) a month late as
carcinogenic asbestos was being removed from the school buildings. The authorities gave assurances at
that time that there was no longer a problem and that there was, therefore, no cause for concern. Further
testing for asbestos carried out by an expert during the Easter holidays, however, showed that the
problems had not been resolved. Asbestos was once again detected on the school premises. After much
vacillation about whether to close the building concerned or not, a decision was finally taken that the
work to remove asbestos from the building would take place during the summer.

In the light of last year’s experience and the extreme concern for the health of the thousands of pupils
attending the Brussels I school
in Uccle owing to the conflicting opinions on the subject, will the
Commission provide answers to the following?

. Is it aware that, although assurances were given at the beginning of the 2000-2001 school year that
every trace of asbestos would be definitively removed, an entire building full of asbestos was suddenly
discovered at Easter?

. Who are those responsible for placing thousands of parents in such a terrible dilemma? Will they be

held liable for negligence and failure to carry out satisfactory checks?

. Who can guarantee that this time the school will re-open free of any suspicion of asbestos and

absolutely safe for the health of pupils and staff?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(9 October 2001)

The Commission draws the attention of the Honourable Member to the fact that the European Schools are
not run by this Institution, they are governed by a Conseil Supérieur (Board of Governors) which is an
inter-governmental body that was established under the Convention of 12 April 1957 and is made up of
the Ministers of the Member States responsible for education and/or foreign cultural relations. Following an
agreement concluded on 11 December 1957, a Commission representative also sits on the Board.

Under the agreements concluded by the Board of Governors with each of the host countries in which
European Schools are located, the Governments of those Member States make a special contribution to the
Schools in the form of providing and maintaining suitable premises and facilities in order to meet the
necessary material and operating requirements of the Schools. The agreement between the Board of
Governors and Belgium was signed on 12 October 1962 and ratified on 8 November 1975. The Belgian
Authority (Régie des Bâtiments . RdB) is therefore responsible for the four European Schools currently
functioning in Belgium.

In relation to the specific matters raised by the Honourable Member in his Question: The Commission had
access to the various technical reports on the presence of asbestos which were provided to the European
School
in Uccle by the RdB. An updated asbestos inventory report, provided in December 2000 by
European Environment Consultants (a specialist firm appointed by RdB), was based on visual inspection
and on a verification of suspicious material with an optical microscope, in conformity with Belgian legal
requirements. Another report was nevertheless requested from Gefahrstoffe in Bauten GmbH . GSB),
because of a possibility that asbestos was present in inaccessible areas and was not detected by earlier
inspections that were based on visual detection under the terms of existing law. The report, drawn up by
Mr Teichert of GSB, listed new findings of asbestos and recommended removal.

C 93 E/64

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.4.2002

A Working Group, chaired by a Representative of the Board of Governors, has been established to ensure
the follow up of the renovation works in the European School in Uccle. In its role as a member of this
Working Group, the RdB gave its assurance that the removal of the asbestos would take place during the
summer 2001 school holidays and that all necessary measures would be taken in order to guarantee the
safety and health of pupils and staff.

According to the Head of the Uccle European School, removal of asbestos work was carried out as planned
during the recent summer holidays and the results of environmental air measurements taken in the Science
building, the Fabiola building, the Van Houtte building, the Château and the swimming pool show that
there is no presence of asbestos fibres. A inspection report, drawn up by an expert of GSB after these
works were completed, confirms these results.

(2002/C 93 E/080)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2122/01

by Mihail Papayannakis (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

Subject: Investigation of civil aviation accidents and incidents

(13 July 2001)

Justice recently condemned Greece for its delay in transposing into Greek
The European Court of
legislation Community Directive 94/56/EC (1) establishing the fundamental principles governing the
investigation of civil aviation accidents and incidents and rejected as inadequate the arguments put
forward by the Greek government.

In view of the judgment handed down by the European Court of Justice and the fact that the purpose of
the Directive in question is to improve air safety and to prevent accidents and incidents, will the
Commission say what progress has been made in implementing this Directive both in Greece and in the
other Member States?

(1) OJ L 319, 12.12.1994, p. 14.

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(6 September 2001)

Council Directive 94/56/EC of 21 November 1994 establishing the fundamental principles governing the
investigation of civil aviation accidents and incidents was adopted on 21 November 1994. Member States
were to notify the Commission of measures taken to comply with it by 21 November 1996 at the latest.

The Commission instituted infringement proceedings against Greece and Luxembourg for failure to
transpose the Directive, in which both of these Member States were found guilty.

Following the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Communities of 5 April 2001 that, by
failing to adopt and notify to the Commission within the prescribed period the laws, regulations and
administrative provisions necessary to transpose Directive 94/56/EC, Greece had failed to fulfil
its
obligations under the EC Treaty, the Greek Government has just communicated to the Commission the
text of law 2912/2001 published in the Official Journal of 9 May 2001, which transposes the Directive
into Greek law.

Luxembourg alone has not yet notified the Commission of its measures transposing Directive 94/56/EC.
Justice of 16 December 1999, Luxembourg has informed the
Since the judgment of
Commission of the state of progress in the procedure to adopt measures transposing the Directive.
According to this information, the Directive should be transposed before the end of this year.

the Court of

By that time, therefore, all of the Member States will have transposed and will be applying this Directive,
even if certain Member States occasionally fail to send the Commission investigation reports as the
Directive asks them to do.

The Commission will see to it that this legislation is applied correctly.