WRITTEN QUESTION E-0320/02 by Christopher Beazley (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Preparations for the European Council meeting in Barcelona.
Date: 2002-02-12
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU research policy, telecommunications policy, trans-European network, transmission network

29.8.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 205 E/115

Regulation (EC) No 2037/2000, to ensure that CFCs are recovered and destroyed, including from the foam
in domestic refrigerators and freezers. There are proven commercial technologies for extracting the CFC
from insulating foam which are being used in at least eight Member States.

Establishing recovery facilities to process the waste stream of domestic refrigerators and freezers is a long-
term investment. As indicated, many of the domestic refrigerators and freezers entering the waste stream
currently contain CFCs. Their replacements could contain Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), also a
controlled substance, and more recently Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), a potent greenhouse gas controlled by
the Kyoto Protocol, which should also be recovered. Such recovery facilities would also eventually facilitate
implementation of the proposed Directive (2) of the Parliament and of the Council on waste electrical and
electronic equipment.

(1) Source: Eurostat.
(2) OJ L 244, 29.9.2000.

(2002/C 205 E/126)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0320/02

by Christopher Beazley (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(12 February 2002)

Subject: Preparations for the European Council meeting in Barcelona

The 2000 Lisbon European Council called on the Council and the Commission, together with the Member
States, where appropriate, to ‘facilitate the creation by the end of 2001 of a very high-speed transeuropean
network for electronic scientific communications, with EIB support,
linking research institutions and
universities, as well as scientific libraries, scientific centres and, progressively, schools’. Was this target met?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(16 April 2002)

The Commission, in co-operation with the Member States, welcomes the fact that the above stated goal of
the 2000 European Council was reached in time, moving Europe’s high-speed transeuropean network for
research into a very good positioning in global terms.

The interconnection of the National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) in Europe has a very high
political importance as it constitutes one of the major building blocks for the Next Generation Internet and
the foundation for the European Research Area (ERA).

In this context, Europe has since 1 November 2001 a fully operational trans-european network (GEANT)
running at 10 gigabit per second (Gbps) and interconnecting thirty two (32) NRENs. This corresponds to
an increased factor of sixteen times since 2000.

In parallel the NRENs have been upgraded and thus, globally, the access capacities of all European research
institutes and universities has been significantly increased.

The Honourable Member will find in the annex which is sent direct to the Honourable Member and to
Parliament’s Secretariat useful data that shows that Europe is in a very competitive position in international
terms.

For highly demanding research communities (e.g. CERN, European Molecular Biology Laboratory),
complementary experimental GRIDs infrastructures are also being deployed.

C 205 E/116

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

29.8.2002

Connectivity for schools is handled differently in the various Member States but in many cases is provided
by the NREN.

The co-operation with the European Investment Bank (EIB) resulted in the signing of a Memorandum in
June 2001 This agreement between the Community and the EIB strengthens co-operation in order to boost
research and technological innovation in Europe by offering complementary, although independent, forms
of financial support to researchers. In addition EIB’s Innovation 2000 Initiative specifically targets the area
of
the 6th Framework
Programme on Research and Technological Development further opportunities are expected for the
provision and financing of research infrastructures.

information and communications technology networks.

In the context of

In conclusion, the Commission welcomes the fact that the target defined by the Council have been met
within the timeframe. Further efforts to sustain and improve Europe’s position will be done in the context
of the 6th Framework Programme, for which the topic of ‘GEANT and GRIDs’ has already received wide
support both in the Parliament and in the European Council.

(2002/C 205 E/127)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0324/02

by Hans-Peter Martin (PSE) to the Council

(5 February 2002)

Subject: Transparency as regards meetings, decisions and documents

Comprehensive transparency is increasingly becoming a central concern to the citizens of Europe, with
particular regard to the transparency of the EU institutions, where they seek access to as many documents
as possible and want as many meetings as possible to be open to the public.

Why, in the Council’s view, cannot all the Council’s activities, from meetings through to votes, be totally
transparent and open to the public?

Both the Swedish and the Belgian Council Presidencies again and again ascribed great importance to
increased transparency; however, in decisive transparency issues, there has, in practice, been little change.
What conclusions have been drawn from these experiences?

in which areas of its own activities can the Council

In the future,
imagine that a greater degree of
transparency as regards access to documents and meetings might be introduced, and how will the current
Spanish Presidency tackle this issue?

Reply

(21 May 2002)

The Council would draw the Honourable Member’s attention to the fact that it has taken the necessary
steps to implement Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of
30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents.

More specifically, it has adopted Decision No 2001/840/EC amending the Council’s Rules of Procedure,
which recasts some of the existing provisions on document access and lays down certain new provisions
arising from implementation of Regulation No 1049/2001.

The Council attaches particular importance to the proper application of these instruments, which represent
decisive progress in ensuring public access to the institution’s documents.