WRITTEN QUESTION P-0213/03 by Elspeth Attwooll (ELDR) to the Commission. Protection of the Darwin Mounds.
Date: 2003-01-27
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: United Kingdom, deep-sea fishing, environmental protection, fishery management, fishing area, sea-bed

10.7.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 161 E/195

(2003/C 161 E/203)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0211/03

by Christine De Veyrac (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(3 February 2003)

Subject: Galileo programme

The European satellite navigation programme Galileo will offer a number of different services: an open
service (OS), a safety of life service (SoL), a commercial service (CS), a public regulated service (PRS) and a
search and rescue service (SAR). Does the Commission intend to put these services into operation through
a number of different agencies? The possibility of setting up a multimodal navigation agency has been
mooted. What other agencies are under consideration?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(14 February 2003)

Until 2005, responsibility for the development programme lies with the Joint Undertaking created by
Council Regulation (EC) No 876/2002 of 21 May 2002 setting up the Galileo Joint Undertaking (1). The
Joint Undertaking will not only ensure the technical success of this initial phase, but will also handle the
granting of the infrastructure concession (deployment, maintenance and operating phases).

Galileo will then be run by the consortium which wins the concession contract. The concession holder,
fields, will be a
which will probably be a consortium of undertakings from different professional
commercial company. It will be chosen through a procedure starting in 2003 and ending in summer
2004.

Galileo services will thus be made available not by agencies, but by the concession holder itself.

However, the granting body, which will be responsible for enforcing the terms of the concession contract,
will still have to be established. This body may take various forms. No decision has yet been made
regarding the nature of this future structure. The Commission will present a proposal on this matter to
Parliament and the Council in 2004.

(1) OJ L 138, 28.5.2002.

(2003/C 161 E/204)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0213/03

by Elspeth Attwooll (ELDR) to the Commission

(27 January 2003)

Subject: Protection of the Darwin Mounds

Discovered in 1998, the Darwin Mounds are a unique collection of cold-water coral mounds located
approximately 185 km north-west of Cape Wrath in Scotland. These coral reefs are under ongoing threat
of destruction with deep-water trawling having been identified as the principal threat to the integrity of the
mounds. These reefs have take thousands of years to grow and any damage caused by deep-sea trawling
could prove virtually irreparable. There is an immediate need for action to protect them.

The UK Government is in the process of formally designating this site as a Special Area of Conservation
and has notified the Commission to this effect. This has taken and could still take, however, a considerable
period of time to accomplish due to technical and legal issues. At the current rate of progress, with the
main threat ongoing, there may be no reef left by the time it is designated.

C 161 E/196

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

10.7.2003

Even after SAC designation, the Commission will be responsible for the management of fisheries activities
under the CFP in this area, which should form part of the SAC management plan. It seems only logical
that the Commission take emergency interim measures immediately to restrict fisheries activities in order
to protect this important habitat. What action is the Commission taking now to address this immediate
problem and to stop the damage caused by deep-water trawling,
in the perspective of future SAC
designation?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(14 February 2003)

It would seem inappropriate for the Commission to address at the Community level, on a case by case
approach, the specific protection of some marine areas in view of their status as possible candidate areas
for future designation as Special Area of Conservation (SAC) under the Habitats Directive (1). Such an
initiative would be even more questionable if it were justified on the basis of a delay in national action due
to the time needed for technical and legal clarifications. However, this does not mean that the issue cannot
be dealt with at Community level at other stages of the process.

In the first place, given the importance of fisheries management for the future conservation of such marine
areas, a formal proposal by the United Kingdom (UK) to include the Darwin Mounds within Natura 2000
is likely to act as an important trigger to motivate further management action involving the Community in
relation to the protection of these areas from threats derived from activities such as fishing, that fall under
the Community competence.

Moreover, the Commission is ready to consider any substantiated request from the UK government, that
could justify emergency measures from the Commission on the basis of the possibilities provided for in
Article 7 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002 on the Common Fisheries Policy (2). However, such
Commission emergency measures cannot last more than six months (with the possibility for one extension
only, for no more than six months).

Finally, the Commission is looking forward, as from 2003, to receiving scientific information on a broader
European basis that would support at a later stage, proposals for the management of deep sea fisheries,
possibly using local effort controls or closed areas or proposals for limiting the impact by fishing on the
environment in accordance with Article 4 of the same Regulation.

(1) Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora,

OJ L 206, 22.7.1992.

(2) Council Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002 of 20 December 2002 on the conservation and sustainable exploitation of

fisheries resources under the Common Fisheries Policy, OJ L 358, 31.12.2002.

(2003/C 161 E/205)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0217/03

by Giacomo Santini (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(27 January 2003)

Subject: Commission Fischler’s proposal on Community aid to farms

The proposals presented by Commissioner Fischler provide for a single annual lump-sum payment to each
farm, based on the average Community aid paid to the farm during the previous three reference years
2000, 2001 and 2002. However, in Italy many farms, in particular in the beef sector, did not apply for aid
during those three years for various reasons (cid:1) lack of information, unattractive nature of the aid,
bureaucratic complications, impossibility of using the bovine register as it did not exist or was incomplete.
Statistically,
Italy applies for approximately 1 300 000 slaughter premiums a year, compared with
4 500 000 eligible head of cattle. Even in more organised regions, such as Lombardy, only 70 % of
livestock farms apply for aid for at most 70 % of the eligible head of cattle. Consequently, these producers
would be denied any possibility of receiving aid for the duration of the validity of the new regulation. The
regulation provides for derogations in the case of force majeure, i.e. cases in which the farms were unable
to produce in the reference years or had a reduced production for reasons beyond their control. This rule
does not appear to apply to the Italian producers concerned, given that they produced normally, were