WRITTEN QUESTION E-0940/02 by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. Harmful gas emissions from the Reggio Emilia incinerator between 1 January 2002 and 10 February 2002.
Date: 2002-04-09
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Emilia-Romagna, application of EU law, environmental law, environmental standard, health legislation, pollution control measures, toxic substance, waste incineration

C 110 E/6

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

8.5.2003

The Health Sector Support Programme is a EUR 28 million project signed in May 2001 for a period of five
years. It aims to improve the health status of the population in the rural districts of Sierra Leone. This will
be achieved through establishing mechanisms for the sustainable delivery of quality affordable health care
at the primary and first referral
level. The Health Sector Support Project gives priority to establishing
systems of care and management.

The project will have complementary operational components, which are expected to achieve the
following results:

(cid:1) availability and accessibility of primary and first referral health services;

(cid:1) reinforced human and financial resources for the health sector;

(cid:1) accessibility of essential drugs;

(cid:1) reinforced stakeholder participation.

The Health Sector Support Project responds to a focal sector of
Indicative
Programme in Sierra Leone and is complementary to the EDF-funded project, which supports reforms in
the Ministry of Finance (MOF), and to the EDF-funded Rehabilitation and Resettlement Project (RRP). It is
expected to contribute to restoring confidence and hope among the traumatised population of Sierra
Leone and to supporting the government’s efforts towards poverty reduction. Its activities will also be
complementary to activities undertaken by United Nations agencies and development banks.

the 8th EDF National

(2003/C 110 E/005)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0940/02

by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(9 April 2002)

Subject: Harmful gas emissions from the Reggio Emilia incinerator between 1 January 2002 and

10 February 2002

Between 1 January and 10 February 2002 the waste incinerator situated in via dei Gonzaga in Reggio
Emilia in the Italian region of Emilia Romagna, managed by the firm AGAC under the control of the local
authority, repeatedly emitted harmful substances such as carbon monoxide, hydrochloric acid and total
organic carbon. The population and the authorities were not informed about the harmful emissions and
the excessive emission levels at the appropriate time. The facts only emerged one month later, when a
person living near the incinerator complained of feeling unwell.

Can the Commission say whether the silence on the part of those who run the plant, and who did not
even inform the Reggio Emilia provincial authorities during the 40 days when the harmful substances were
being emitted, infringes Community public health and environmental standards?

Does the incinerator in question comply with European legislation on the environment and public health?

Supplementary answer
given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(11 November 2002)

The Italian authorities have not yet replied to the request for information sent by the Commission in order
to verify whether, as regards harmful gas emissions from the Reggio Emilia incinerator in the period
between 1 January 2002 and 10 February 2002, the relevant requirements had been complied with and
whether the incinerator now complies with relevant Community emission standards. The issue will be
discussed in the coming weeks in a meeting between the Commission and the Ministry of
the
Environment.

8.5.2003

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Official Journal of the European Union

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In any event, the Commission, which opened an own initiative case on the issue, will ensure the
observance of Community law within the limits conferred on it by the EC Treaty. Should the Commission
be informed that Community law is being breached in the specific case, it would not hesitate, as the
guardian of the EC Treaty, to take all necessary measures,
including infringement procedures under
Article 226 of the EC Treaty, in order to ensure the observance of relevant Community law.

(2003/C 110 E/006)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0968/02

by Glyn Ford (PSE) to the Commission

(10 April 2002)

Subject: Disability rights

The World Bank estimates that disabled people account for 20 % of the world’s poorest. If the Commission
is to make real long-term progress towards the International Development Target of halving world poverty
by 2015, it is essential that disabled people are fully included in all poverty reduction strategies.

The ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly recently passed a resolution on the rights of the disabled people
and older people in ACP countries. What is the Commission doing to ensure that the rights of disabled
people in Asia are promoted as an integral part of all poverty reduction programmes?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(14 May 2002)

The African, Caribbean and Pacific States (cid:1) European Union (ACP-EU) Joint Parliamentary Assembly
recently passed a resolution on the rights of disabled people in ACP countries. Those recommendations
can equally be applied to disabled people in Asia.

Disability must be mainstreamed into all Community development work in poor countries to better
integrate the disabled into society. New approaches at the country level such as poverty reduction strategy
processes are increasing the voice and participation of civil society groups, including those that represent
the disabled, in the development of national policies.

The Commission sees social policies that improve access to, and quality of, basic social infrastructure and
services (health and education in particular) as the most effective way to address specific demands of the
most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. Action to reduce poverty, the core objective of Community
development assistance, will prevent disability. The Commission will continue to provide substantial
support
to the social sectors and will maximise opportunities to link prevention of disability to
rehabilitation and empowerment of the disabled.

Examples of activities in Asia include the Bangladesh Country Strategy Paper and National Indicative
Programme (NIP) which mentions children with disabilities explicitly under education.

In India, EUR 150 million have been channelled into the Government’s District Primary Education
Programme (DPEP), among others to support pilot initiatives aimed at improving access to elementary
education for children with disabilities. The PESLE programme (Programme for Enrichment of School Level
Education), in collaboration with the Aga Kahn Foundation, is tasked to do the same in the non-formal
sector (Union contribution EUR 11 million).

In Cambodia, the Commission is in the process of designing a programme to enhance accessibility,
adequacy and affordability of quality basic education to children and young people from particularly poor
and excluded sections of the population (cid:1) this will include special attention for children with disabilities.