WRITTEN QUESTION E-2725/02 by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. The A-9 Motorway between Spain and Portugal and infringement of Community environmental legislation.
Date: 2002-09-30
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU financing, Portugal, Spain, application of EU law, environmental impact, groundwater, impact study, motorway, water supply

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Official Journal of the European Union

EN

13.3.2004

(2004/C 65 E/002)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0761/02

by Stavros Xarchakos (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(18 March 2002)

Subject: Compensation for farmers

The Greek press reports that a farmer in the village of Theopetra in the Kalambaka district of Trikkala
province in Greece was astonished to discover that the compensation approved by ELGA (the Greek
the destruction of her crops by hailstone amounted to the
farmers’
astronomical sum of EUR 1,16.

insurance organisation)

for

Does the Commission provide Greece with funds for use as compensation in the event of natural disasters?
Is provision made in the EU budget reserve for natural disasters and in the annual expenditure on
agriculture? If so, how much do those appropriations amount to? Does the Commission have any
information concerning the manner in which Greece administers those appropriations? What is the
Commission’s view of the paltry amount of compensation received by the Greek farmer above? Are there
minimum amounts of compensation in such cases? Have there been similar cases in other Member States?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(18 April 2002)

Following the question of the Honourable Member,
the Commission took note and considered the
question of the particularly low compensation approved by ELGA (Greek Farmer’s Insurance Organisation)
in one specific case in the village Theopetra, Kalambaka District-Trikallon.

ELGA is not a final beneficiary of the relevant Community measure for compensation in the case of
natural disasters, which is a possible action foreseen under the ‘National Operational Programme (cid:1) Rural
Development (2000-2006)’. ELGA is financed by its members who are individual
farmers. National
the existing Community regulatory
legislation, procedures and thresholds apply. On the basis of
framework, national aid schemes are only notified to the Commission for approval in order to avoid
market distortions. Therefore, the Commission is not entitled to comment on the amount and the
procedures applied in this particular case.

The relevant Community contribution is provided through the ‘National Operational Programme (cid:1) Rural
Development (2000-2006)’ which includes a specific measure for the compensation of farmers after
natural disasters. However, the financial compensation for the affected rural population can only cover the
reconstitution of the production potential lost and not the income losses as is the case in the specific case
in Theopetra, Kalambaka District-Trikallon. The final beneficiary for this measure is the Directorate PSEA
(Policy Planning in Case of Urgent Needs) of the Greek Ministry of agriculture. The Community regulatory
framework applies for the programming, implementation and controls of the specific measure.

If the scheduled amounts cannot be sufficient to overcome major problems of the Greek rural areas,
additional Community financial grants can be taken from the total appropriations of the 3rd Community
Support Framework for Greece (2000-2006)
including its programming reserve. No other special
Community funds or Community compensations can be provided. Similar regulatory framework applies
for all Member States.

(2004/C 65 E/003)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2725/02

by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(30 September 2002)

Subject: The A-9 Motorway between Spain and Portugal and infringement of Community environmental

legislation

The building work on the A-9 motorway between the Rebullón (Tui, Spain)
interchange and the
Portuguese frontier is having an enormous environmental impact on the area, causing a whole range of
damage, particularly to the existing watercourses. When designing the motorway section which affects the

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surrounding agricultural

area’s inhabitants, the environmental damage caused was not assessed: a particular glaring absence from
the studies made were the underground watercourses, which are required for human consumption and the
land. The resulting defective drainage in conjunction with
irrigation of
meteorological conditions, has
the area. The public administrations
responsible for the construction work (Ministry of Development, the Xunta de Galicia and the local
authorities) are dodging the problem and ignoring the numerous and frequent organised protests by local
people. Although there have even been two deaths: a lorry driver was killed by the fall of a girder, and a
local person died during a protest. Both these incidents are sub judice.

irreversible consequences

for

the roadworks in question? Could the
What Community funding is going into the completion of
Commission investigate whether these roadworks involve infringement of environmental legislation on the
dumping of waste on the part of the Spanish Government?

Supplementary answer
given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(3 April 2003)

The Commission learned of the situation reported by the Honourable Member through Written Question
E-1924/02 by Mrs Rosa Miguélez Ramos and Mrs María Sornosa Martínez (1). It subsequently opened an
own-initiative case (reference No 2002/2199).

To check that the relevant Community legislation was being properly enforced, the Commission asked the
Spanish authorities for information on the reported situation.

In response, the Spanish authorities sent the impact statement regarding the route of the motorway, along
with the consent for the project granted on 30 August 2000.

The Spanish authorities also sent a copy of the hydrology chapter of the project impact study. This is
currently being examined by the Commission.

As for Community funding of these roadworks, from the information the Spanish authorities supplied to
the Commission it appears that construction of the stretch of the A-9 motorway running from the
Rebullón interchange to the Portuguese border is being financed entirely by a concession-holding company
and that no Community funding is involved.

(1) OJ C 301 E, 5.12.2002.

(2004/C 65 E/004)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2820/02

by Marco Pannella (NI) to the Commission

(8 October 2002)

Subject: The case of Dr Nguyen Dan Que

Vietnam has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and in May 1990 Dr Nguyen
Dan Que, a physician and a representative of the Non-violent Movement for Human Rights, published a
manifesto calling on the Hanoi regime to respect fundamental human rights, to accept the adoption of a
multi-party political system and to re-establish the right of the Vietnamese people to choose their own
form of government via free elections.

Dr Que was imprisoned twice, from February 1978 to February 1988 and then from June 1990 to August
1998, making a total of 18 years, most of the time in solitary confinement. He is now under house arrest.