WRITTEN QUESTION E-2970/02 by Christa Prets (PSE) to the Commission. Culture 2000 programme — closing date for submitting projects for St Petersburg 2003.
Date: 2002-10-22
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Commission, Russia, administration of the Institutions, cultural event, cultural policy

C 88 E/292

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

8.4.2004

Does the Commission have any plans to introduce new building design regulations intended to provide all
EU citizens with minimum standards for protection from fire-related injury by requiring the installation of
such devices as smoke detectors and sprinkler systems?

Does the Commission recognise national or regional fire brigades in each Member State as the lead bodies
to deal with issues of community fire safety, and are they treated as such for the purpose of consultation
about health and safety issues relating to fire?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(15 October 2002)

The Community has no general competence in fire safety. However, the Community does contribute to
fire safety through several directives and initiatives taken under different Community policies,
in
accordance with the subsidiarity principle.

As a direct consequence, the structure and the competences of national, regional or local fire brigades vary
from one Member State to the other, and the Commission has no competence to establish common rules
on which all Member States could agree.

In the area of civil protection, the Commission has taken several initiatives to allow fire brigades to identify
their most urgent needs. As far as the promotion of best practices between Member States is concerned,
within the Community action programme for civil protection, Sweden has recently been mandated as the
lead country for a fire prevention project that aims to identify best practice between Member States.

The Commission does not have plans to make mandatory the installation of smoke detectors and sprinkler
systems. In many of the Member States such provisions exist already. However, fire alarm/detection, fixed
fire-fighting and fire and smoke controlproducts are covered by Council Directive 89/106/EEC of
21 December 1988 on the approximation of
laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the
Member States relating to construction products (1). Under this Directive there are common instruments for
labelling the safety in case of fire characteristics of construction products. These are the ‘Euroclasses’ for
reaction to and resistance to fire, which will allow the performances of products to be easily recognised in
all Member States.

Only Member States have the prerogative to designate which bodies should deal with Community fire
safety issues. However, at Community level, relevant initiatives are usually discussed with all the interested
parties represented at European level.

(1) OJ L 40, 11.2.1989.

(2004/C 88 E/0299)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2970/02

by Christa Prets (PSE) to the Commission

(22 October 2002)

Subject: Culture 2000 programme (cid:1) closing date for submitting projects for ‘St Petersburg 2003’

The Culture 2000 programme includes the promotion of special cultural events with a European or
international dimension. On 22 August 2002 the Commission’s Directorate-General for Education and
Culture accordingly called on the appropriate agencies in the Member States to submit cooperation
projects on the theme of ‘A European presence in St Petersburg’.

8.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 88 E/293

The projects are supposed to involve not only the project coordinator but also at least three co-organisers
from at least three other countries taking part in the Culture 2000 programme. The Commission gives
1 October 2002 as the closing date, so there were only 40 days between their first call for project
submissions and the closing date, of which 29 were working days. This time frame is surely too short to
plan for such an extensive project. Why did the Commission release information on the possibility of
submitting projects so late in the day?

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(29 November 2002)

Having noticed the recent increased involvement of Member States in cultural projects in St Petersburg and
the interest of operators in them, the Commission decided (cid:1) as part of an experimental action aimed at
exploiting the opportunities under Action 3 of the Culture 2000 programme (cid:1) to put to the test the idea
of organising a multilateral cooperation project around an event of this kind (this was also advocated by
the Parliament in resolution 2000/2323 on cultural cooperation within the European Union).

After the necessary debates and procedures had been carried out, a special call for projects was launched in
August 2002 on the subject of the European presence in St Petersburg during the tercentenary celebrations
there in 2003. It was sent to the Member States taking part in the programme via their permanent
the projects by the permanent
representatives to the EU. The initial deadline for submission of
representations was 1 October 2002 but was this was put back to 15 October 2002 so that the Member
States would have as much time as possible and the initiative could also be finalised by the end of 2002.
The projects which were received are now being examined and the Parliament will of course be kept
informed of the results of the initiative.

(2004/C 88 E/0300)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3331/02

by Mihail Papayannakis (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(26 November 2002)

Subject: Community Information Society Programme

Can the Commission say what progress has been made in implementing the programme concerning the
‘Information Society’
the ministries responsible for
implementation are dragging their heels and are having difficulty issuing calls for tenders owing to a lack
of coordination? Is it possible that these delays will result in a loss of funding for the 3rd Community
Support Framework?

in the light of reports in the Greek press that

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(6 March 2003)

The Operational Programme (OP)
‘Information Society’ was approved by the Commission Decision
C(2001)551, on 14 March 2001. A table summarising the progress of this OP since the first actions were
in July 2001, according to information (2) received from the Managing Authority of the
‘activated’ (1)
programme is sent direct
to the Honourable Member and to Parliament’s Secretariat. More recent
information suggests that the public spending of the programme so far is EUR 73,8 million, or 3,3 % of the
public spending foreseen by the programme.

It can be concluded from this information that the OP ‘Information Society’
is one of the slower
programmes to be implemented in Greece as far as expenditure figures are concerned. The main
explanation is that, with the partial exception of e-government actions, this programme consists of new
actions, which due to their technological nature require careful planning and thus take time to start.