WRITTEN QUESTION E-2448/01 by Luciano Caveri (ELDR) to the Commission. Ratification of protocols to the Alpine Convention.
Date: 2001-09-11
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Alpine Region, environmental policy, international convention, ratification of an agreement, rural development, sustainable development, transport policy

C 134 E/34

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

6.6.2002

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(1 October 2001)

Article 2(4) of the Protocol on the enlargement of European Union annexed to the Treaty on European
Union and to the Treaties establishing the European Communities by the Treaty of Nice stipulates that, in
the event of new Member States acceding to the Union during the parliamentary term 2004-2009, the
total number of Members of Parliament may temporarily, i. e. for the remainder of the 2004-2009 term,
exceed 732 representatives (1). It is therefore out of the question that representatives would have to resign
in the course of the parliamentary term. The Commission would also draw the Honourable Member’s
attention to the explanatory statement in the Méndez de Vigo-Seguro Report on the Treaty of Nice and the
future of the European Union (2).

(1) OJ C 80, 10.3.2001.
(2) Report A5-0168/2001 (PE 294 755).

(2002/C 134 E/035)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2448/01

by Luciano Caveri (ELDR) to the Commission

(11 September 2001)

Subject: Ratification of protocols to the Alpine Convention

In its reply to the previous written question E-3599/00 (1), the Commission reported on relations between
the EU and the Alpine Convention and basically stated that the commitment to the Convention would be
maintained, as illustrated by the decision to sign the transport protocol. Discussions between the various
signatories to the Convention now mainly focus on ratification of the protocols which have been signed,
an essential step for their actual implementation. This also applies to those protocols which the European
Union has already signed (regional planning and sustainable development mountain farming, conservation
of nature and the countryside) or plans to sign (transport). In an interesting interpretation of the principal
of subsidiarity, the Commission’s reply also states that the EU will not sign the other protocols (mountain
forests, tourism, soil conservation and energy) because their implementation will be better guaranteed at
the level of the Alpine area member states and their regions than at Community level.

This being so, what stage has the EU reached in signing the transport protocol?

The reply to question E-3599/00 seems to infer that there are obstacles in the way of the ratification of the
protocols already signed by the Union. This ratification is essential in order to give practical effect to the
Community’s commitment, particularly in areas, such as agriculture, which clearly come under its sphere
of competence. What are the obstacles in question?

(1) OJ C 187 E, 3.7.2001, p. 19.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(12 November 2001)

With regard to the signature of the Transport Protocol to the Alpine Convention, the Commission adopted
on 16 January 2001, in accordance with the provisions of Article 300 (ex Article 228), second paragraph
of the EC Treaty, a Proposal for a Council Decision (1) on the signature of this Protocol. This proposal is
currently being considered by the Council Working Party on Land Transport.

It should be clear, however, that the fact that the Commission is giving priority to the ratification of the
Transport Protocol, should not be seen as a lack of interest in the promotion of sustainable development
in the Alpine region. Indeed, the Commission stresses the interest it attaches to mountain regions. This
interest is exemplified by the fact that the Commission, in its second Report on Cohesion (2), recognised
that mountain regions are already at a disadvantage and have, as such, been included as one of ten

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 134 E/35

priorities in the Community’s cohesion policy. Other Community policies including environment policy or
rural development policy are also contributing to the sustainable development of mountain regions
including the Alpine region, and to the conservation of mountain eco-systems and biodiversity.

In addition, in order to better assess the situation of mountain areas, the Commission is about to launch a
study to delimit, in a precise way, the mountain regions within the Community and to collect statistical
data. This should enable the Commission to diagnose, in an objective way, the actual situation. The first
results of this study are expected in the second half of 2002.

(1) COM(2001) 18 final.
(2) COM(2001) 24 final.

(2002/C 134 E/036)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2465/01

by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Council

Subject: The internal political enlargement of the Union

(11 September 2001)

As part of the work to be carried out in preparation for the Laeken Summit, in respect of the 2004
Conference and the Constitution of the European Union, is the Presidency intending to review the future
status of stateless nations? Does it make sense, within a fully political European Union, that nations such as
Scotland, Wales, Galicia, Catalonia or Euskadi do not have the political presence and powers within the
European institutions enjoyed by Member States of comparable cultural and national importance and, in
several cases, smaller populations?

Reply

(12 February 2002)

The Honourable Member will understand that it is not for the Council to comment on the internal
organisation of the Member States of the Union. Questions relating to the future of the Union fall within
the scope of the public debate launched in March 2001. The opening of that debate marked the beginning
of preparations for an intergovernmental conference in 2004, as provided for in the declaration on the
future of the Union adopted in Nice in December 2000. The debate, for which the Presidency,
in
cooperation with the Commission and with the participation of the European Parliament, will encourage
wide-ranging discussion involving all the interested parties, must be actively pursued in the years to come.

At its meeting in Laeken in December 2001, the European Council is to adopt a declaration containing
appropriate initiatives for the continuation of this process, including ways of structuring the preparatory
phase for the IGD 2004. Besides other matters, this process should cover the four questions expressly set
out in the Nice declaration, which aim to improve and permanently monitor the democratic legitimacy
and transparency of the Union and its institutions, to bring them closer to the citizens of the Member
States.

(2002/C 134 E/037)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2467/01

by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Council

(11 September 2001)

Subject: Independence of the Western Sahara

Self-determination, by means of a referendum of Saharan citizens, is the only just and decent solution to
the state of marginalisation in which the people of the Western Sahara have been living for 25 years, ever
since the Moroccan regime, counting on European and USA pacifity, illegally occupied the territory by