WRITTEN QUESTION E-2678/01 by Raffaele Costa (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Regional grants in Italy.
Date: 2001-10-02
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Italy, State aid, access to EU information, autonomous community, control of State aid, regional aid, regional policy

C 115 E/146

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

16.5.2002

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(29 October 2001)

The Water Framework Directive (1) entered into force on 22 December 2000 and provides for river basin
management as the key principle for water management. For transboundary rivers basins, the Directive
sets out the following requirements for coordination (Article 3(3) and 3(4)):

Member States shall ensure that a river basin covering the territory of more than one Member State is
assigned to an international river basin district. At the request of the Member States involved, the
Commission shall act to facilitate the assigning to such international river basin districts.

Each Member State shall ensure the appropriate administrative arrangements,
including the
identification of the appropriate competent authority, for the application of the rules of this Directive
within the portion of any international river basin district within its territory.

Member States shall ensure that the requirements of this Directive for the achievement of the
environmental objectives established under Article 4, and in particular all programmes of measures are
coordinated for the whole of the river basin district. For international river basin districts the Member
States concerned shall together ensure this coordination and may, for this purpose, use existing
structures stemming from international agreements. At the request of the Member States involved, the
Commission shall act to facilitate the establishment of the programme of measures.

While cooperation and coordination between Member States in relation to shared international river basins
is compulsory under the Water Framework Directive, the institutional and legal form of such joint actions
(formal agreement, conventions, exchange of letters etc) is left to the discretion of the Member States
concerned.

The Convention between Portugal and Spain is broadly consistent with the requirements of the Water
Framework Directive with regard to the need to ensure appropriate coordination. The creation of a proper
framework for the management of the river basins shared between Spain and Portugal is therefore to be
welcomed. Having established such a framework, the challenge for the future will be to carry out river-
basin planning and develop programmes of measures for each river basin as foreseen under the Directive.

(1) Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework

for Community action in the field of water policy, OJ L 327, 22.12.2000.

(2002/C 115 E/150)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2678/01

by Raffaele Costa (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(2 October 2001)

Subject: Regional grants in Italy

What view does the Commission take of the huge amounts of ‘regional aid’ which special status regions
and autonomous provinces pay out to the various types of businesses and cooperatives?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(5 November 2001)

Under Article 88(3) of the EC Treaty, Member States are required to notify the Commission of any plans to
grant or alter aid. This requirement holds for both aid granted by national authorities and aid granted by
regional bodies. The Commission vets the aid for compatibility with the common market on the basis of

16.5.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 115 E/147

Article 87 (former Article 92) of the EC Treaty and the rules contained in regulations, frameworks or
guidelines. With regard in particular to regional aid, the Commission applies the criteria set out in the
Journal (1). In the case of Italy, the maximum aid intensities are
guidelines published in the Official
specified in the Italian regional aid map, which is being sent direct to the Honourable Member and
Parliament’s Secretariat.

Certain categories of state aid have been declared compatible with the common market under Council
Regulation (EC) No 994/98 of 7 May 1998 on the application of Articles 92 and 93 of the Treaty
establishing the European Community to certain categories of horizontal State aid (2) and need not be
the EC Treaty. This aid is currently governed by
notified under Article 88 (former Article 93) of
Commission Regulations (EC) Nos 68/2001 (3), 69/2001 (4) and 70/2001 (5) of 12 January 2001

Part of the aid notified by Italy concerns special-status regions and the autonomous provinces of Trentino
and Bolzano. The Honourable Member will find the decisions taken by the Commission in the authentic
language or languages, with any confidential data removed, on the Internet site http://europa.eu.int/comm/
secretariat_general/sgb/state_aids. The state aid register gives information broken down by region on the
Internet site http://europa.eu.int/comm/competition/state_aid/register/ii/by_region_8.html.

(1) OJ C 74, 10.3.1998.
(2) OJ L 142, 14.5.1998.
(3) Regulation on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to training aid (OJ L 10, 13.1.2001).
(4) Regulation on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to de minimis aid (OJ L 10, 13.1.2001).
(5) Regulation on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to State aid to small and medium-sized

enterprises (OJ L 10, 13.1.2001).

(2002/C 115 E/151)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2682/01

by Maurizio Turco (NI) to the Commission

(3 October 2001)

Subject: Statement by the Director of the UNDCP

In an interview given on 5 August 2001 to ‘Famiglia cristiana’, Mr Giuseppe Arlacchi, Director of the
UNDCP, stated, among other things, that:

Between the end of this year and early 2002, the heroin available in Europe will become increasingly
scarce, the purity of the drug will diminish and prices will rocket.

How do the Commission and its service, the EMCDDA, view this prospect?

What would be the likely consequences of this scenario, in terms of public health and law and order?

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(26 November 2001)

The statement of the Director of the United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNDCP), Mr Arlacchi, was
made before the dramatic events in New York in 11 September 2001 and the recent developments in
Afghanistan. Afghanistan is the world’s biggest producer of illicit opium used for the manufacture of
heroin, producing up to 75 % of the world total. The vast majority of the heroin available in the
Community originates from Afghanistan. As the situation in Afghanistan remains unclear for the time
being and with a lot of conflicting information from different sources, it would be premature to speculate
on the effects of the recent events to the availability of heroin in the Community.