WRITTEN QUESTION E-0115/03 by Catherine Stihler (PSE) to the Commission. Malta's accession to the EU: Wild Birds Directive (79/409/EEC).
Date: 2003-01-28
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Malta, accession negotiations, bird, derogation from EU law, hunting regulations, protection of animal life

27.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 78 E/695

strategy is, above all, to use the instruments of the PCAs to support the partner countries in better utilising
transport infrastructure, to exploit modern management and appraisal techniques in a competitive market
place. This will help them to define their strategic options and policies towards the transport sector, assess
infrastructure development proposals and decide on their own priorities.

The Commission is not in a position to ascertain some of the information that the Honourable Member
reports under points 1, 2 and 3 of the question, concerning Russia and Ukraine. Nor would it be
appropriate for the Commission to get involved in purely internal matters of the countries concerned.

The Commission is supporting reform policy in the transport sector within the framework of broader
support for macroeconomic and structural reforms. However, Union TACIS policy priorities do not include
specific interventions in the public transport sector since this is not a priority of the relevant National
Programmes, as approved by Member States.

The Commission recognises that cities need good, attractive public transport. The Commission’s analysis of
different methods for organising urban public transport, of the kind referred to in the question, within the
Union has shown that deregulation has tended to cut costs and improve productive efficiency but made
services less attractive to passengers. By contrast, ‘controlled competition’ tends to deliver more attractive
services at a lower price. Under controlled competition, the services are provided on the basis of fixed term
exclusive contracts let after a competitive bidding process. Service quality, including reliability, frequency
and price, are subject to continuous monitoring by the contracting public authority. This is the model
which most Member States have tended to follow in opening their markets at national level and it is also
the model favoured by the Commission in its draft regulation on public services in the road, rail and
inland waterway sectors (1). Moreover, the Commission is developing a thematic strategy on the urban
environment in accordance with the 6th Environment Action Programme which will address the issue of
sustainable urban transport as a priority theme. A communication on the Strategy will be issued by the
end of the year 2003.

(1) COM(2002) 107 final.

(2004/C 78 E/0743)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0115/03

by Catherine Stihler (PSE) to the Commission

(28 January 2003)

Subject: Malta’s accession to the EU: Wild Birds Directive (79/409/EEC)

Further to the answer given to my Written Question E-2554/02 (1) on 11 November, can the Commission
confirm that any spring hunting would also only be acceptable if ‘there is no other satisfactory solution’
(79/409/EEC (2) Article 9.1) and can it explain why, when these species both migrate through Malta in the
autumn, when hunting of them would be legal under the Directive, this is not a perfectly satisfactory
solution?

Can the Commission confirm that any spring hunting would also only be acceptable if the use was
judicious (79/409/EEC Article 9.1(c)) and will it explain how it could be judicious to kill individuals of two
species, whose populations are declining in Europe, in the few weeks immediately prior to their breeding?

Moreover, can the Commission confirm that Malta did indeed establish its Ornis Committee by
31 December 2002, and will it list those individuals who sit on this Committee?

(1) OJ C 280 E, 21.11.2003, p. 5.
(2) OJ L 103, 25.4.1979, p. 1.

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Official Journal of the European Union

EN

27.3.2004

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(7 March 2003)

The implementation of Council Directive 79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the conservation of wild birds
and, in particular, the specific aspect of spring hunting has been negotiated in the framework of the
accession negotiations on the environment chapter with Malta.

The Commission confirms that any use of derogations must be in conformity with each of
the
requirements of Article 9 of the Directive. Malta has committed itself to fully implement, as from
accession, the Directive. If Malta wishes to allow spring hunting on the basis of the exceptions foreseen by
Article 9 of the Directive, for instance in relation to turtle dove and quail, it would need to ensure that all
these requirements are met.

The use of derogations is decided by Member States in accordance with these requirements and reported
retrospectively to the Commission. The Commission confirms that it will take all necessary measures to
ensure that the terms of the Directive, and in particular those related to the use of derogations, are fully
implemented by Malta as from accession in accordance with the outcome of the Accession Negotiation.

In particular, as regards the Ornis Committee, Malta has issued at the end of January 2003 a regulation
establishing it. Subsequently, a call for applications for membership from non-governmental organisations
has been issued and was closed on 5 February 2003. It is expected that the selection of the members as
well as the official appointment of the chairman of the committee will be concluded by March 2003.

(2004/C 78 E/0744)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0118/03

by Salvador Garriga Polledo (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Delineation of the European Union’s final borders

(28 January 2003)

The signature of the Accession Treaty in Athens on 16 April 2003 will definitively open the way for ten
new countries to join the European Union on 1 May 2004, once that Treaty has been ratified by the
current Member States and by the ten new Member States.

Many analysts believe that we should take the opportunity provided by this enlargement to definitively
establish what the final borders of the European Union should be, because the EU cannot go on expanding
for ever.

Does the Commission not feel that in order to lay the bases for discussions on this subject it should
sponsor an in-depth study by a select group of eminent figures and scholars in this field on where the
European Union’s borders should end, based on Europe’s conception of its own culture and civilisation,
which are the unequivocal identifying signs of a common and identical geographical background?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(27 February 2003)

in
As the Honourable Member is aware,
Article 6(1) of the Treaty on the European Union may apply to become a member of the Union’ in
accordance with Article 49 of the Treaty on the European Union. The principles set out in Article 6 of the
Treaty are the following: ‘liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the
rule of law, principles which are common to the Member States.’

‘Any European State that respects the principles set out

After the accession of 10 new members in 2004, the Union has taken the commitment to support
Bulgaria and Romania in their efforts to become members in 2007. In March 2002, the Commission plans
to propose revised Accession Partnerships for these two countries, as well as for Turkey, ‘a candidate state
destined to join the Union on the basis of the same criteria as applied to the other candidate states’ as
specified by the Copenhagen European Council in December 2002.