WRITTEN QUESTION E-3542/01 by Gérard Caudron (PSE) to the Council. Nursery school education for five-year olds.
Date: 2002-01-08
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European citizenship, European integration, competence of the Member States, education, nursery school, organisation of teaching, teaching curriculum

4.7.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 160 E/137

(2002/C 160 E/173)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3539/01

by Luis Berenguer Fuster (PSE) to the Commission

Subject: Possible public aid for the ‘Terra Mítica’ theme park

(8 January 2002)

The valuation of the land occupied by the ‘Terra Mítica’ theme park made by the Provincial Compulsory
Purchase Board of Alicante differs sharply from valuations previously given of other adjacent
land
apparently with the same value, as the following table shows.

Public company Alicante theme park (December 1997)

Type of land: Dry

Alicante Provincial Compulsory Purchase Board 0 Compulsory purchase for ’Terra Mítica theme
park’ (13.5.1999)

Alicante Provincial Council 0 Compulsory purchase for ’widening and improvement of road AV-
1552 from Altea to La Nucia’ (24.10.1996)

(EPS/m2)

600

600

286

Alicante Provincial Compulsory Purchase Board 0 Compulsory purchase evaluation for ’widening
and improvement of road AP-1521 from Altea to La Nucia’ (10.12.1998)

1 200

It must be remembered that the Compulsory Purchase Board is an administrative body under the authority
of the Ministry of Finance and that a valuation of the land lower than the market price and also lower than
the price it had previously established could be seen as public aid for the ‘Terra Mítica’ theme park, since it
would be acquiring the land at a price lower than would be possible for any competitor, thereby gaining
competitive advantages.

Does the Commission consider that this information is significant in examining whether public aid has
been given to the ‘Terra Mítica’ theme park?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(15 February 2002)

In its decision initiating the proceedings under Article 88 (2) (formerly Article 93 (2)) of the EC Treaty in
connection with the presumed aid granted to the Terra Mitica Park in Benidorm, Alicante (1),
the
Commission had already decided that the acquisition of the land by the theme park following the
expropriation as referred to by the Honourable Member did not in itself constitute state aid for the reasons
outlined in the decision (2). Moreover, these facts are not relevant to the examination of the other aspects
of this case, in respect of which the proceedings under Article 88 (2) have been started.

(1) OJ C 300, 26.10.2001.
(2) See point 50 of the decision.

(2002/C 160 E/174)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3542/01

by Gérard Caudron (PSE) to the Council

(8 January 2002)

Subject: Nursery school education for five-year olds

At a time when Europe is debating its future and its future institutions, the teaching of European
integration in the education systems of the Member States of the Union is becoming crucial to developing
a genuine European citizenship.

The subject should be introduced in nursery schools as from the age of five, in appropriate forms, and
continue into higher education in all disciplines.

C 160 E/138

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

4.7.2002

Above all, it should also be made a compulsory and permanent part of the curriculum at the different
stages of each education system with a programme that is developed and adjusted to the level of education
provided.

Could the Council begin by carrying out a survey on this issue in the Member States and candidate
countries?

Once this analysis has been done, would the next step not be to draw the consequences and invite the
governments to introduce the measures required to achieve the desired results?

Does the Council not see this as a crucial challenge for the democratic future of the Union, namely to give
real substance at last to European citizenship for the younger generations of today and tomorrow?

Reply

(25/26 March 2002)

In relation to the question raised by the Honourable Member, the Council would point out that, pursuant
to Article 149(1) of the Treaty, the European Community is required to respect fully ‘the responsibility of
the Member States for the content of teaching and the organisation of education systems …’. It should also
be borne in mind that nursery school education is not officially recognised in all Member States as forming
part of the national education system.

With respect to the appropriateness of a survey in the different Member States on the teaching of
European integration, it is not for the Council to carry out a survey of this kind. It would perhaps be more
appropriate for the Honourable Member to address his question to the European Commission.

(2002/C 160 E/175)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3545/01

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(8 January 2002)

Subject: Obstacles to a cross-border approach to breeding programmes for the European hamster, an

endangered species

1.
Is the Commission aware that the European hamster, a species which can only live in areas of at least
30 ha that do not contain roads, woods or buildings, is at risk of extinction in the densely populated
Netherlands, and that the Das en Boom Association and Blijdorp (Rotterdam Zoo) have recently started a
breeding programme using the last individuals to have been caught, as a result of which 135 animals have
so far been bred with the intention of returning them to the wild as soon as suitable areas have been
found?

2.
Is the Commission aware, furthermore, that, despite previous undertakings to find eleven such areas,
of 45 ha each, consisting of windblown loamy soils (löss) in the province of Limburg, the Netherlands
Government probably will not find them because of the ongoing construction of new roads, business/
industrial estates and residential areas and bearing in mind that the animals also cannot be returned to the
wild near woodland because they would then be eaten too quickly by buzzards, hawks and foxes?

3.
Can the Commission confirm that exchanges of European hamsters for use in a common breeding
programme in order to prevent inbreeding (degeneration arising from individual animals’ being descended
from a pool of ancestors who are genetically too alike) are being obstructed by internal borders within the
EU?

4.
Can the Commission furthermore confirm that efforts to return these specially bred hamsters to the
wild in the Netherlands’ neighbours, Belgium and Germany, are likewise being hampered by internal
borders within the EU?