WRITTEN QUESTION E-0379/02 by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Recognition of the Hellenic Register of Shipping (HRS).
Date: 2002-02-21
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Greece, maritime safety, prevention of pollution, safety standard, technical standard, vessel

C 172 E/190

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.7.2002

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(21 March 2002)

As a general rule, the killing of rare birds is prohibited under Community legislation (Council Directive
79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the conservation of wild birds (1)) and the national authorities have to take
all necessary measures in order to enforce relevant national provisions. On this basis, the Commission will
draw the attention of the Greek authorities to the concerns expressed by the Honourable Member and
which emphasise the need for effective control mechanisms for these illegal acts.

Hunting is a fully legitimate activity under the Birds Directive. It is however restricted to a certain number
of species listed in Annex II of the Directive and is subject to the specific conditions laid down in its
Article 7. The Member States authorities have in particular to ensure, according to Article 7(4), that the
practice of hunting complies with the principles of wise use and ecologically balanced control of the
species of birds concerned and that the species to which hunting laws apply are not hunted during the
rearing season nor during the various stages of reproduction or, in the case of migratory species, during
their return to their rearing grounds. The Commission does not intend to propose a general ban on
hunting but takes all necessary measures, including legal action, to ensure that the Directive’s requirements
relating to hunting are properly implemented in national legislation.

In accordance with the above-mentioned principles, the hunting season applicable in the different Member
States for the various huntable species depends on a number of factors and, most importantly, on the
biology of the species concerned. As a result, no single fixed opening or closing dates can be envisaged.
A comparison of the hunting season in Greece with that in other Member States would therefore be of
limited value. However, it should be noted that the hunting season in Greece for many migratory species
was recently reduced as a result of legal action by the Commission.

(1) OJ L 103, 25.4.1979.

(2002/C 172 E/202)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0379/02

by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(21 February 2002)

Subject: Recognition of the Hellenic Register of Shipping (HRS)

In its answer to my question No E-2339/99 (1), the Commission states that ‘At the time of the inspection,
HRS had only 941 ocean-going vessels over 100 GT in its class and 60 exclusive surveyors. Following a
different calculation method suggested by HRS, the number of exclusive surveyors would be 86, still not
meeting the figure of 100 required by the Directive’ and that ‘On 22 April 1998 HRS was recognised
pursuant to Article 4(3) of the Directive for a period of three years during which HRS can only work on
behalf of the Greek administration.’

Having now been assessed by the relevant European Union committee and pursuant to a Commission
Decision of 13 December 2001, the HRS has been recognised as the organisation responsible for ship
inspection and survey for a three-year period in Greece alone, since it fulfils the solely qualitative criteria of
Directive 94/57/EC (2) on common rules and standards for ship inspection and survey organisations.

Can the Commission say why recognition of the HRS is again confined to Greece alone? What are the
results of the assessment of the HRS? Does the Commission consider the results of the quality assessment
to be satisfactory? In which ways does the HRS fall short of the quantitative criteria

(1) OJ C 280 E, 3.10.2000, p. 29.
(2) OJ L 319, 12.12.1994, p. 20.

18.7.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 172 E/191

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(2 April 2002)

The recognition of the ‘Hellenic Register of Shipping’
is limited to Greece, according to the
provisions of Council Directive 94/57/EC of 22 November 1994 on common rules and standards for ship
inspection and survey organizations and for the relevant activities of maritime organisations (1). This
recognition is valid for a period of three years from the 13 December 2001, and was given following a
specific request of the Greek Ministry of Mercantile Maríne, and after assessments carried out by the
Commission and a positive opinion of the corresponding Committee of Member States representatives.

(HRS)

The assessments carried out by the Commission verified that HRS meets all the criteria of Directive
94/57/EC. However, as concerns the quantitative criteria set out under paragraphs 2 and 3 of the section
‘General’ of the Annex, which foresee that, in order to be granted a full recognition, a classification society
must have in its class a fleet of at least 1 000 ocean-going vessels and must employ a technical staff of, as a
minimum, 100 exclusive surveyors, they were not met by HRS. During the assessments of HRS mentioned
above, it was ascertained that the number of ocean-going vessels in the HRS classed fleet is of 349 and
that the number of exclusive surveyors employed by HRS is of 68. When considering all the recognised
organisations, this is one of the best ratio ‘tonnage in class per surveyor’, but this is not enough to allow a
full recognition.

The recognition of HRS is therefore limited to Greece since HRS does not meet the quantitative criteria of
the Annex to the Directive. However, taking into consideration the fact that HRS meets all the qualitative
criteria of the Directive, this organisation could work on behalf of any other administrations of the
Member States that might decide to put forward a similar request to the Commission.

(1) OJ L 319, 12.12.1994.

(2002/C 172 E/203)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0380/02

by Ioannis Marínos (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(21 February 2002)

Subject: Misleading presentation of public debt

By exploiting the method of calculating public debt used by the Union’s statistical services, some Member
States are using new methods of expanding their debt without the corresponding increase being reflected
in the statistics.

In specific terms, government bonds are issued against future government or public company revenue
which is not always certain to materialise. Recently, new bonds were issued against anticipated funds from
the EU’s 3rd Community Support Framework. These loans are not recorded as public debt and, therefore,
in the short term the debt appears, falsely, to have decreased, whereas in fact it not only remains
outstanding but has increased at the same time as incurring very high interest-rate charges. The emergence
of the debt and its payment are simply deferred to a later point in time to burden future generations and
governments who will have to deal with a problem for which they bear no responsibility. The
International Monetary Fund has already sharply criticised such ‘creative accounting’.

Is the Commission aware of this matter? Has it investigated which countries employ these methods? Does
it intend to change the method of calculating public debt to show the actual extent of the debt? If not, is it
not inevitable that Member States’ public finances and, consequently, the general economic situation in the
Union will deteriorate in the medium term?