WRITTEN QUESTION E-1782/02 by Sebastiano Musumeci (UEN) to the Commission. Measures in favour of volunteer civil protection.
Date: 2002-06-24
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU office or agency, EU programme, European cooperation, civil defence, man-made disaster, natural disaster, vocational training, voluntary work

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.

6.2.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 28 E/137

Effective use of this new mechanism will be achieved through intensive training and full-scale simulation
exercises. The purpose of the training programme is to ensure that teams from different Member States
can work together effectively in an emergency despite differences in national systems. This will enable the
Community to consolidate its overall emergency response capacity and adjust it as required.

Regarding the specific role of volunteers, the Commission would draw the Honourable Member’s attention
to an initiative recently developed in the context of the Community action programme in the field of civil
protection (3) on ‘the role of non-governmental organisations’ (NGOs) volunteers in civil protection’. The
results of this project, which are accessible on the Commission’s civil protection unit website (4), include a
wide range of recommendations aimed at improving the involvement of civil protection NGOs in general
and of individual volunteers in particular.

(1) OJ C 172 E, 18.7.2002, p. 155.
(2) Council Decision 2001/792/EC, Euratom of 23 October 2001, OJ L 297, 15.11.2001.
(3) Council Decision 1999/847/EC of 9 December 1999, OJ L 327, 21.12.1999.
(4) http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/civil/.

(2003/C 28 E/159)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1792/02

by Miquel Mayol i Raynal (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

Subject: Redevelopment of the port of Port-Vendres (F66)

(24 June 2002)

The Catalan port of Port-Vendres in the Roussillon, in the French département of Pyrénées-Orientales, is
the subject of a regional development project by virtue of a charter of 11 July 2000.

This project, which is said to have received European (ERDF) funding, is opposed by a large section of the
Port-Vendres population, who have formed an association called ‘Ensemble pour Port-Vendres’. In a file
sent to Commissioner Barnier on 28 May 2001, the association reports irreparable damage to a site
worthy of protection, occasioned not
two beaches in the
municipality.

least by the concreting-over of

the last

Is the Commission able to verify whether this project has actually received European funding? If it has,
could it check whether the work completed, and that planned, complies with the European directives on
environmental protection?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(19 July 2002)

According to the information provided by the French regional authorities, the project referred to by the
Honourable Member was not part-financed by the Structural Funds.

(2003/C 28 E/160)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1801/02

by Laura González Álvarez (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(24 June 2002)

Subject: Environmental impact study on the Puente del Arco to El Condado section of the AS-17 highway

(Asturias, Spain)

In the preparation of the information report on the construction of the Puente del Arco to El Condado
section of the AS-17 highway (Asturias, Spain), and in the environmental impact study, only one route