WRITTEN QUESTION E-1772/02 by Michl Ebner (PPE-DE) to the Commission. The EU as contracting party to a Unesco Convention.
Date: 2002-06-21
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Union, Unesco

6.2.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 28 E/135

(2003/C 28 E/156)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1769/02

by Liam Hyland (UEN) to the Commission

(17 June 2002)

Subject: Crisis in income of dairy farmers

Given the 30 % drop in income of dairy farmers in Ireland and other Member States over the past year and
given the high level of investment that many of these farmers have made in developing the sector and that
they are now experiencing tremendous pressure for bank repayments, what action does the Commission
intend to take to alleviate the hardship being experienced by these farmers and their families?

Does the Commission admit that it is unrealistic to expect the Irish dairy industry to compete with
overproduction and dumping from Australia, New Zealand and the US and will the Commission commit
to using the budgetary scope to give a greater level of support for dairy products and to raising the
intervention floor for skimmed milk?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(15 July 2002)

The Commission is aware that the market for milk and milk products has deteriorated in recent months in
the Union and elsewhere. Most of the Member States have recorded lower producer prices. It is true that
the price of milk paid to producers in 2002 has fallen to 1999 levels. This fall also coincides with the peak
in seasonal production, when the excess supply puts pressure on prices.

That said, it must be remembered that 2001 was an exceptional year, price-wise, and so some reduction in
It is important not to worsen matters, however. The Commission has already
prices was inevitable.
responded by increasing export refunds and it recently proposed increasing the aid for skimmed-milk
processed into casein.

Although the threshold of 109 000 tonnes has been reached, the Commission has also decided to keep
open the option of buying-in skimmed-milk powder under tendering arrangements.

The Honourable Member may rest assured that the Commission will continue to monitor the market and
will take what measures it can to support it.

(2003/C 28 E/157)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1772/02

by Michl Ebner (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(21 June 2002)

Subject: The EU as contracting party to a Unesco Convention

In the third paragraph of the answer given by Commissioner Reding to my Written Question E-0730/02 (1)
of 29 April 2002 entitled:
the
Commission states that the EU is not a contracting party to the 1972 Unesco Convention Concerning the
Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.

‘Year of the Mountain (cid:1) the Dolomites as a World Heritage Site’,

Would it not, then, be sensible for the European Union to become a contracting party to Unesco
conventions?

(1) See page 50.

C 28 E/136

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

6.2.2003

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(6 August 2002)

The Convention mentioned by the Honourable Member does not contain a clause allowing the
Community to becoming a contracting party.

(2003/C 28 E/158)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1782/02

by Sebastiano Musumeci (UEN) to the Commission

Subject: Measures in favour of volunteer civil protection

(24 June 2002)

In the light of my previous written question E-0146/02 (1), and the subsequent reply from the Commission;
bearing in mind that the creation of a European Civil Protection Agency is bound to have the participatory
effect engendered by any operational structure of its type, especially vis-à-vis the Member States less
conscious of this issue, and would also offer the advantages of:

(a)

the development and standardisation, with a view to the utmost efficiency, of procedures and
methodologies for analysing and mitigating natural and technological risks by going beyond the
criterion of ‘territoriality’, which is one poorly suited to the concept of disasters;

(b)

the formation of a task force of well-trained disaster management experts that would be ready to assist
Member States struck by disasters, be these natural or man-made ones;

can the Commission:

1.

2.

clearly indicate whether it considers the creation of a European Civil Protection Agency to be a
feasible objective;

state whether it in any case considers that volunteer civil protection action should be promoted and
supported without delay, with basic training activities and with facilities and equipment that might
harness advanced technologies, and that coordination and integration should be fostered between the
Member States in this area, since this is one of the major resources available to them when dealing
with states of emergency arising from natural disasters and other types of disaster?

(1) OJ C 172 E, 18.7.2002, p. 155.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(25 July 2002)

The Commission considers that the creation of a European Civil Protection Agency is not an aim in itself
and that cooperation on civil protection at EU level can be developed quite satisfactorily with the
structures the Commission already has in place.

In view of this, and further to the instruments and initiatives already mentioned in its reply to his written
question E-0146/02 (1), the Commission would draw the Honourable Member’s attention to a recent
development in Community action in this field.

Following the series of natural and technological disasters that have struck the European Union and
neighbouring countries in the last few years, the Commission has proposed the setting-up of a Community
mechanism to coordinate interventions by national civil protection teams inside and outside the Union.
This mechanism, adopted by the Council on 23 October 2001 (2), is based on the principle of mutual
assistance and allows early identification and mobilisation of operational resources in the event of
emergencies of any kind, whether natural or man-made.

Pursuant to this Decision, the Commission has set up a Monitoring and Information Centre, operational on
a 24-hour basis. The Centre will ensure that the most appropriate intervention teams and resources are
rapidly identified and dispatched in the event of an emergency.