WRITTEN QUESTION E-0796/02 by Antonios Trakatellis (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Community funding of plans projects implementing the Natura 2000 network and EAGGF contribution to environmental protection in Greece.
Date: 2002-03-20
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Cohesion Fund, EAGGF, EU environmental policy, European Regional Development Fund, Greece, environmental protection, protected area, soil protection

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income of fishermen. In addition, quantities of fish are also caught which fishermen do not wish to land,
usually because they are of little or no commercial value, or which are prohibited by legislation to land.

1.
In Norway, the principle applies that individuals of the major commercially exploited species which
are caught shall not be discarded but shall be returned to port and counted against an appropriate quota.
Despite a number of inquiries, the Commission has not succeeded in obtaining a full description of this
system or of its success.

The Commission would wish to see the capture of small fish discontinued or much reduced. This is
2.
the basic intention of the Community’s Technical Measures Regulation, Council Regulation (EC) No
850/98 of 30 March 1998 for the conservation of fishery resources through technical measures for the
protection of juveniles of marine organisms (1). The suggestion to land undersized fish and market them
implies dispensing with minimum landing sizes; in the Commission’s view such a move would jeopardise
rather than contribute to stock recovery. Unwanted catches may be landed provided that they are in
compliance with legislative requirements but they are discarded into the sea precisely because they are
unwanted by the fisherman who has caught them.

The basic attack on discarding will be by improvement of technical measures intended to prevent or
3.
reduce capture of small fish. The Commission is committed to producing an action plan for discards which
should emerge by June 2002 and which may contain additional elements.

(1) OJ L 125, 27.4.1998.

(2002/C 301 E/059)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0796/02

by Antonios Trakatellis (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(20 March 2002)

Subject: Community funding of plans projects implementing the Natura 2000 network and EAGGF

contribution to environmental protection in Greece

The prime objective of the sustainable management of natural and environmental resources (cid:1) one of the
priorities in drawing up EU policy with a view to the European Council meeting in Barcelona (cid:1) is to
promote specific aspects of environmental policy such as in relation to water, land and soil. Directive
92/43/EEC (1) provides for special measures to protect and conserve natural habitats (biotopes, wild
biotopes, grassland), wild fauna and flora throughout the EU, and to create a coherent European ecological
network of special areas named Natura 2000. With this network as a basis, Member States draw up
national lists of special conservation areas with the Commission subsequently compiling a list of areas of
Community interest. These areas are defined in the legislation as special areas of conservation for which
special management plans are drawn up defining the activities permitted and the method of managing and
enhancing the natural resources etc.

1. What financial support, per plan and project and in total, has Greece received in respect of
implementing the Natura 2000 network, under the 2nd Community Support Framework (CSF), from the
Cohesion Fund and the Life programme since 1996 to date? Will the Commission provide a detailed
breakdown for each plan and project separately and indicate the amounts allocated from each source of
funds separately, per year and in total?

2. What amount of financial aid has Greece received since 1993 for the implementation of Community
environment policy? What is the amount of appropriations entered in the 2nd CSF for the operational
programme on the environment and what is the take-up rate in respect of those appropriations?

3. What amount of financial support has been received from the European Agricultural Guidance and
Guarantee Fund (EAGGF), with particular reference to soil and water resources for the protection and
rational management of coastal areas, waterways which flow into them, and wetlands. Will
the
Commission provide a detailed breakdown for each plan and project separately and indicate the amounts
allocated from each source of funds separately, per year and in total?

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4. What contribution has the EAGGF made to Greece for soil and water protection in relation to
agricultural production methods which are compatible with environmental protection and conservation of
the natural environment on the basis of quantitative and qualitative indicators?

(1) OJ L 206, 22.7.1992, p. 7.

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(1 July 2002)

The Commission has obtained information from the Greek Environment Ministry and can inform the
Honourable Member as follows.

For the period 1993-1999 there was no Cohesion Fund support for projects exclusively concerned
1.
with protecting Natura 2000 biotopes. Only the 80 % support (EUR 15 740 000) for the Goulandris
Museum project is indirectly concerned with such protection.

The Commission is sending directly to the Honourable Member and Parliament’s Secretariat a list of the
Greek projects financed since 1996 under the LIFE-Nature programme. Additionally, although financed
from the LIFE-Environment programme, the Zantecoast project (ref. LIFE00/ENV/GR/000751) also involves
Natura 2000 implementation. Its total budget is EUR 1 619 693, of which the Community contribution is
44,44 %.

In contrast to LIFE, the European Regional Development Fund supports not individual projects but
integrated economic development programmes such as those under Objective 1 in Greece. For the period
1994-1999 the ERDF contribution to implementation of Natura 2000 was EUR 23 400 750 (Environment
Operational Programme: subprogramme 3 on protection of nature and Natura 2000 sites).

Environment

2.
EUR 163 800 000 for 2002 and EUR 253 100 000 for 2001.

sector aid from the Cohesion Fund was EUR 1 464 000 000 for 1993-1999,

The Community contribution since 1993 to all LIFE projects in Greece has been EUR 46 498 300.

The ERDF contributed EUR 347 705 000 (out of a total cost of EUR 463 637 000) to the 1994-1999
Environment OP. The take-up rate for the programme is 100 %. For the regional strand of the Community
support framework for the same period (multifund OPs for Greek regions) the estimated assistance is
EUR 156 000 000.

The EAGGF does not

3. and 4.
finance individual projects but programmes, with a strong agri-
environmental component, under which individual commitments are given. For the period 1994-1999
these programmes were adopted under Council Regulation (EEC) No 2078/92 of 30 June 1992 (1) and for
the period 2000-2006 under Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 (2) (EAGGF Guarantee Section Rural
Development Programming Document (RDPD)).

the agri-environmental measures implemented in Greece are concerned with protecting
Three of
underground and surface waters and the soil and thus with protecting and preserving the natural
environment. These involve organic farming (positive overall effect on natural resources), a plan to reduce
nitrate pollution of agricultural origin in the Thessalian Plain (impact primarily on underground water
quality and surface water-courses) and long-term set-aside of agricultural
land (impact primarily on
sensitive areas and biotopes such as Natura 2000 and to a lesser extent on water courses, lakes and coastal
zones).

Since 1995 these three measures have incurred expenditure as and when they were approved under
Regulation (EEC) No 2078/92. The commitments entered into will continue to be paid for over the period

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2000-2006 in the RDPD framework. The table sent to the Honourable Member gives an overview of the
amounts paid by the EAGGF and certain result indicators. The 2000-2006 RDPD includes four new agri-
environmental management measures in Natura 2000 areas: Delta Nestou-Keramoti, Vistonida, Volvi-
Koroneia and Dasos Dadias Evrou. These have not yet begun to operate.

(1) Council Regulation (EEC) No 2078/92 of 30 June 1992 on agricultural production methods compatible with the

requirements of protection of the environment and maintenance of the countryside, OJ L 215, 30.7.1992.

(2) Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 of 17 May 1999 on support for rural development from the EAGGF and amending

and repealing certain Regulations, OJ L 160, 26.6.1999.

(2002/C 301 E/060)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0803/02

by Catherine Stihler (PSE) to the Commission

(20 March 2002)

Subject: Scottish environmental infringement record

Following the visit by the Commissioner for the Environment to Scotland in September 2001 there has
been a prolonged debate on the Scottish environmental infringement record.

Could the Commission outline how many environmental cases are currently open in relation to Scotland
and could the Commission also indicate how Scotland’s record in this regard compares with other areas?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(16 May 2002)

It should be noted at the outset that infringement proceedings initiated by the Commission pursuant to
Article 226 of the EC Treaty, are addressed to the central authorities of a Member State, rather than
particular authorities at regional or local level of that Member State. Nevertheless, the Commission is aware
that
there has been a debate within Scotland over recent months on the Scottish environmental
infringement record.

It is not possible to provide a detailed breakdown of the number of environmental cases which are
currently open with regard to Scotland. Although information concerning infringement proceedings
against Member States is collated by the Commission and set out in an annual report, the data relate to the
national situation of Member States without a regional or local breakdown. It is clear, however, that the
comparatively limited number of cases concerning Scotland are largely in the areas of nature protection,
the water sector, the waste sector and environmental impact assessment. The latest Annual Report on
monitoring the application of Community law (2000) (1), confirms that the United Kingdom (and Scotland)
shares with several Member States the fact that these are commonly sectors in which environmental
infringement procedures are ongoing.

In so far as information about how Scotland’s record compares with other areas, for the reason set out
above the Commission is unable to provide a comparative regional breakdown. However, having regard to
infringement proceedings currently involving other Member States where there is responsibility at sub-
Member State level for implementation of Community environmental law obligations, the Commission
does not consider that the comparative volume of cases involving Scotland is particularly noteworthy.

(1) COM(2001) 309 final, Volume I.