WRITTEN QUESTION E-1818/02 by Michl Ebner (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Stage reached in the ratification of the Alpine Convention.
Date: 2002-06-27
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Alpine Region, EU environmental policy, economic and social cohesion, environmental protection, international convention, mountain region, protocol to an agreement, ratification of an agreement

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Official Journal of the European Union

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6.2.2003

(2003/C 28 E/162)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1803/02

by Esko Seppänen (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(24 June 2002)

Subject: EU aid to the Palestinian Authority

It is hard to obtain a detailed picture from the EU budget of the amount of resources allocated each year
by the EU to the Palestinian Authority. What is the amount in fact? What is the Commission’s estimate of
the financial value of the destruction caused by the Israeli Army to objects which had received EU
subsidies?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(29 July 2002)

Information on the aid allocated annually to the Palestinian Authority from the Community budget is
publicly available; see the annual report on the implementation of external aid published by the
Commission and, up to the year 2000, in the annual report on the MEDA programme.

Copies of the summary Table in Annex 1, setting out the financial aid provided by the Community and the
European Investment Bank (EIB), have been sent to the Honourable Member and Parliament’s Secretariat.

The Table in Annex 2 gives estimates for the damage and destruction caused by the activities of Israeli
forces in the Palestinian territories, and particularly by Operation Rampart in the West Bank in April
2002, to infrastructure that was financed from Community and/or EIB funds. Copies of the Annex have
been sent to the Honourable Member and the Secretary-General of Parliament.

(2003/C 28 E/163)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1818/02

by Michl Ebner (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(27 June 2002)

Subject: Stage reached in the ratification of the Alpine Convention

Following the signing of the Convention on the protection of the Alps, its publication in the Official
Journal of the European Communities (1) and its entry into force on 14 April 1998, the individual
protocols must now be ratified.

How many and which protocols have been signed by the Commission?

If only a few or even none of the protocols have been ratified, can the Commission give reasons for this?

Which protocols have not been approved?

In which official Union languages are the Convention and the additional protocols available?

Can the Commission give precise details of the stage reached in the ratification of the Convention by the
individual Member States?

Are negotiations being conducted on the drafting and signing of further protocols?

(1) OJ L 61, 12.3.1996, p. 31-36.

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Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(11 September 2002)

The European Community signed the Protocols on Town and Country Planning and Sustainable
Development, the Protocol on Mountain Farming and the Protocol on Conservation of Nature and
Landscape, in December 1994. On 16 January 2001 the Commission approved a proposal to the Council
to sign the Protocol on Transport, which is still pending. The Commission has not proposed the
ratification of any of the existing Protocols to the Alpine Convention.

Commission involvement in the Alpine Convention has been limited and the Commission has not attended
any meetings on the Alpine Convention in the last few years, due to the need of the Commission to focus
its limited resources. However, the Commission is currently exploring options to resume involvement in
the work of the Alpine Convention.

In its second Report on Economic and Social Cohesion,

The Commission has been contributing to the promotion of the sustainable development of the Alpine
region through existing EC policies.
the
Commission underlined that mountain regions are at a disadvantage and have, as such, been included, with
other areas with severe geographical or natural handicap, as one of
ten priorities in the future
Community’s cohesion policy. A number of Community policies, inter alia agricultural policy, regional
policy and environment policy, are contributing to the sustainable development of mountain regions,
including the Alpine region, and contribute to the conservation of mountain eco-systems bio-diversity as
well as its economic and social fabric.

The text of the Alpine Convention has been published in the Official Journal (1) and has been, therefore,
translated into all EU official languages. The Protocols are only available in the official languages of the
Convention (French, German, Italian and Slovenian).

The Convention has been ratified by, Austria on 19.04.94, Germany on 16.06.94, France on 30.11.95 and
Italy on 28.09.99.

A working party on ‘Population and Culture’ has recently been established to analyse the added value and
the urgency of drafting a Protocol on ‘Population and Culture’. The first meeting took place on
23-24 April 2002 and this working party will draft a provisional report for the 7th Alpine Conference on
19-20 November 2002.

(1) OJ L 61, 12.3.1996.

(2003/C 28 E/164)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1821/02

by Jan Mulder (ELDR) to the Commission

(27 June 2002)

Subject: Rising number of cases of swine fever in the EU

The number of cases of classical swine fever in the EU is on the increase. Since Directive 2001/89/EC (1)
was adopted in October of last year the use of marker vaccines has been authorised, which means that,
instead of clearing infected and surrounding farms, ring vaccination can be used to prevent the disease
spreading. However, the use of such marker vaccines is limited because there are no approved test
methods that can make a distinction between vaccinated animals and those naturally infected.

1.
Is the Commission prepared to make extra funds available as soon as possible either from the Sixth
Framework Programme for Research or from the funds specifically earmarked for this purpose by the
budgetary authority in budget line B1-330 so that European research institutes can develop such test
methods more quickly?