WRITTEN QUESTION E-2899/01 by Sebastiano Musumeci (UEN) to the Commission. Fishing with drift-nets.
Date: 2001-10-22
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Mediterranean Sea, common fisheries policy, conservation of fish stocks, environmental impact, fishing net, fishing regulations

16.5.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 115 E/189

(2002/C 115 E/198)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2894/01

by Konstantinos Hatzidakis (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Overrun of original cost of building Attiki Odos

(22 October 2001)

The Greek press reports that the cost of building the Attiki Odos (northern Athens ring road) has exceeded
Drs 1 trillion, whereas the contract signed in 1996 put the cost at Drs 420 billion plus Drs 150 billion in
compulsory purchases.

Has the cost of building the Attiki Odos actually increased? If so, for what reasons?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(14 December 2001)

On the basis of information given by the Greek authorities, the contract signed in 1996 between the Greek
State and the concessionaire for the construction of the Athens ring (Attiki Odos) provided for a price of
450 billion drachmas (bn Drs).

The project had to be modified subsequently to take into account decisions of the Greek courts to improve
environmental conditions in numerous cases (municipalities of Agia Paraskevi, Vrilissia etc). A number of
measures had to be taken (more tunnels, etc) which increased the cost and the construction time. A further
cost increase was the use of the Attiki Odos line by the railway and the metro in order to ensure an
enhanced rail connection with the new Spata airport, because of the 2004 Olympic Games.

In total, the additions to the initial contract amounted to Drs 288 billion. Fees paid to the concessionaire to
compensate for delays due to the above mentioned court decisions added up to Drs 67 billion.
Expropriations cost the Greek State Drs 277 billion (all the above figures are in current prices). This
explains why the budget for this project indeed reaches Drs 1 082 billion.

(2002/C 115 E/199)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2899/01

by Sebastiano Musumeci (UEN) to the Commission

(22 October 2001)

Subject: Fishing with drift-nets

Regulation (EC) No 1239/98 (1) sanctioned the abolition of drift-net fishing as of 1 January 2002 and the
technical document of the STECF of the Commission’s Directorate-General for Fisheries laid down the
parameters for assessing the impact on whales.

The document set out the technical procedures for limiting the impact, without calling for the abolition of
drift-net fishing, and also stressed that any provisions on drift-net fishing concerning the Mediterranean
Basin should, in order to be successful, have been extended not only to the Member States of the European
Union, but also all the other Mediterranean countries.

Finally, whilst the EU countries have abolished fishing with drift-nets, no similar provision has been
adopted by the countries of North Africa, which have, on the contrary, considerably increased the capacity
of the fleet practising this kind of fishing.

Any possible environmental benefit has been nullified and the European Union has paradoxically stopped
being a producer of swordfish and has started importing it from North African Mediterranean countries.

C 115 E/190

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

16.5.2002

Does the Commission not consider that it should reassess the issue of Italian drift-net fishing in the

1.
light of the technical document of the STECF?

Does it intend to arrange for a census of Community motorised fishing boats still practising this

2.
form of fishing?

Does it consider measures should be agreed on among the Member States aimed at rationalising drift-

3.
net fishing?

Does it intend to adopt urgent measures to standardise the legislation of all the countries in the

4.
Mediterranean Basin?

(1) OJ L 171, 17.6.1998, p. 1.

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(3 December 2001)

The report of the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) to which the
Honourable Member refers is a document that already informed the process of elaborating Council
Regulation (EC) No 1239/98 of 8 June 1998 amending Regulation (EC) No 894/97 laying down certain
technical measures for the conservation of fishery resources (1) banning the use of drift-nets on highly
migratory species.

The Commission has not received any sound scientific report either on possible evolution of gear
technology or on monitoring of incidental catches of protected species that could indicate a substantial
mitigation of the conservation problems for which the Regulation was adopted.

Member States inform regularly the Commission, under the provisions of Regulation No 1239/98, on the
number of vessels operating with driftnets targeting a certain number of highly migratory pelagic species;
these figures are already made available to the Parliament through a yearly report prepared by the
Commission on the enforcement of Community legislation on driftnets.

The prime responsibility for enforcement of Council Regulation No 1239/98 lies with the Member States.
The Commission, for its part, will take the necessary steps to verify that all Member States adequately
enforce this legislation. In the absence of adequate enforcement, the Commission will avail itself of all the
procedures open to it.

On the basis of the information available to the Commission, it cannot confirm or disprove the statement
by the Honourable Member regarding the number of non Community vessels operating with driftnets in
the Mediterranean. The Commission will do its utmost to strengthen the General Fisheries Commission for
the Mediterranean and to support its efforts to achieve sustainable fisheries which minimise adverse
impacts on the eco-system in the Mediterranean.

(1) OJ L 171, 17.6.1998.

(2002/C 115 E/200)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2902/01

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

(22 October 2001)

Subject: Complaint over use of EU funds for concentration of rural holdings

Donato Rodríguez Loredo, a citizen from Galicia (Spain), has, beginning in 1996, submitted a series of
requests for
for Agriculture
concerning the concentration of rural holdings in Lourenzá-Norte (Vilanova de Lorenzá, in the province
of Lugo). In its replies to these initiatives, the DG initially claimed that the matter fell under Spanish rather

information and complaints to the Commission’s Directorate-General