WRITTEN QUESTION E-1245/03 by Antonio Di Pietro (ELDR) to the Commission. Construction of a dump for red mud produced by bauxite processing in the Sea of Portoscuso (Cagliari), Sardinia.
Date: 2003-04-02
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Sardinia, environmental impact, environmental protection, impact study, industrial waste, marine pollution, territorial waters, town and country planning, waste disposal

26.2.2004

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 51 E/67

(2004/C 51 E/075)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1233/03

by Miquel Mayol i Raynal (Verts/ALE) to the Council

(2 April 2003)

Subject: Closure of Euskaldunon Egunkaria

On Thursday 20 February this year the Basque newspaper Euskaldunon Egunkaria was closed down as a
precautionary measure by High Court Judge Juan del Olmo. In an unprecedented act since democracy
came to Spain, this judge, the Public Prosecutor and the Interior Minister himself drew up a joint press
statement supporting the closure of this periodical (cid:1) the only entirely Basque-language newspaper (cid:1)
because of alleged links to the ETA terrorist movement, based on some documents that were seized by the
national police in the 1990s. More than a month has passed since these events, and five of the ten people
who were arrested by judicial decree are still in detention, although no decisive and irrefutable evidence
has been provided of their links with the terrorist movement. Moreover, some of them have accused the
Spanish police authorities of torture, a detail which certainly does not make the path of peace in the
troubled Basque Country any easier. This action against one of the communications media has greatly
damaged the Basque language and culture and the citizens of this region, who are perplexed to observe
once again a kind of action more typical of the Franco era which still haunts people’s memories. The
Spanish Government should not overlook or underestimate the demonstrations of support and solidarity
that those who worked for this newspaper have received from various political groups, all kinds of
associations, trade unions, religious communities and many others in the whole Basque Country, Catalonia
and the rest of Europe.

The closure of Euskaldunon Egunkaria is of enormous significance and clearly affects a constitutional right,
the right of citizens to information, enshrined in Article 20 of the Spanish Constitution and Article 11 of
the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

Does the Council consider that the Spanish authorities have violated inalienable principles of the ‘acquis
communautaire’?

Does the Council consider that there has been a clear and repeated infringement of the presumption of
innocence?

Reply

(2 October 2003)

The Council invites the Honourable Member to refer to the reply it gave to Written Question E-800/03
put by Mr Koldo Gorostiago Atxalandabaso on the same subject.

(2004/C 51 E/076)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1245/03

by Antonio Di Pietro (ELDR) to the Commission

(2 April 2003)

Subject: Construction of a dump for red mud produced by bauxite processing in the Sea of Portoscuso

(Cagliari), Sardinia

On 28 May 2002, Eurallumina SpA, a company that annually produces over one million tonnes of
aluminium oxide and treats around two million tonnes of bauxite using the Bayer process, producing some
one million tonnes of ‘red mud’ per year, submitted a plan for the construction of a new dump (roughly
80 ha in surface area and 18 m high, with a total volume of 13 m m3) to the Region of Sardinia and the
City of Portoscuso. Red mud is a waste product whose high alkalinity is caused by the presence of residual
sodium carbonate (initially 12 pH, falling to 10,5 pH when treated with sulphuric acid and water). The
dump is to be situated in the sea opposite the present red mud dump (120 ha), which is currently being
phased out of use.

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26.2.2004

The planned new dump would further aggravate environmental damage to an area described in 1990 as
being ‘at heightened risk of environmental crisis’, pursuant to Article 7 of Law No 349 of the Italian
Republic of 1986, and would seriously hinder the development of tourism on the gulf where the islands of
San Pietro and Sant’Antioco are situated, as well as on the nearby ‘Boi Cerbus’ Lagoon, a humid zone of
Community interest.

Given the fact that the municipal authorities of Portoscuso have already stated their readiness to support
the planned new dump, before even carrying out any careful analysis of its potential
impact on the
environment, an analysis upon which any prior authorisation depends, does the Commission not consider
that this project may be in breach of the framework directive on the protection of waters and, more
specifically, the directive concerning pollution caused by certain dangerous substances discharged into
territorial waters?

Considering that this important production process employs around 500 workers in the region, can the
Commission state whether it would be possible to contribute to the financing of alternative, more
environmentally-friendly solutions that would allow Eurallumina SpA to continue production in the event
of the cost of such alternative solutions proving unsustainable?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(2 June 2003)

As regards Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain
public and private projects on the environment (1), as amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March
1997 (2), Member States are obliged to ensure that, before development consent is given, projects likely to
have significant effects on the environment by virtue, inter alia, of their nature, size or location are made
subject to an assessment of the environmental effects. The project mentioned by the Honourable Member
could fall within the scope of the Directive, Annex II point 11(b) ‘Installations for the disposal of waste’.
For projects listed in Annex II, Member States are obliged to determine through a case-by-case examination
or by setting criteria or thresholds whether a project is to be made subject to an environmental impact
assessment procedure.

As regards Community nature legislation, as the Honourable Member correctly indicates, the area of the
Boi Cerbus lagoon is included in a site of Community importance proposed by Italy for the Natura 2000
network under Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and
of wild fauna and flora (3) with the name ‘Punta S’Aliga’. Article 6 of the same Directive requires Member
States to avoid the deterioration of the habitats and disturbance of the species for which sites have been
designated. In particular, Article 6(3) requires an appropriate assessment of a project or plan likely to have
a significant effect on a site and Article 6(4) specifies the conditions under which such a plan or project
can be approved.

As regards Community waste legislation, the dumping of red mud from alumina production into the sea is
a waste disposal operation according to the Waste Framework Directive, Council Directive 75/442/EEC of
15 July 1975 on waste (4), as amended by Council Directive 91/156/EEC of 18 March 1991 (5). As such it
must be in conformity with the provisions of the Directive, in particular its Article 4 which requires, inter
alia, that waste is disposed of without risk to water, air, soil and plants and animals, and without adversely
affecting places of special interest. Where the deposit of such waste occurs onto or into land, it needs in
particular to comply with the operating and technical requirements of Council Directive 1999/31/EC of
26 April 1999 on the landfill of waste (6).

In addition, the permit for this project should also comply with the requirements under Council Directive
78/176/EEC of 20 February 1978 on waste from the titanium dioxide industry (7), as modified by Council
Directives 82/883/EEC of 3 December 1982 on procedures for the surveillance and monitoring of
environments concerned by waste from the titanium dioxide industry (8), 83/29/EEC of 24 January 1983 (9)
and 91/692/EEC of 23 December 1991 standardizing and rationalizing reports on the implementation of
certain Directives relating to the environment (10).

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Parliament and Council Directive 2000/60/EC of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for
Community action in the field of water policy (11) protects all waters including coastal waters, and sets
the objective to achieve/maintain good quality (‘good status’) by 2015 at the latest. It covers all sources of
impacts
including the disposal of waste, and is complemented by a non-deterioration clause,
i.e. deterioration of water status below present levels is as a rule not allowed. However, the information
given by the Honourable Member has not revealed any specific grounds of complaint on the application of
the abovementioned Directives to the specific case. Therefore, in the light of the above, no breach of the
abovementioned Directives can be identified at present. Should the Honourable Member provide detailed
information enabling the Commission to assess the issues in relation to the abovementioned Directives, the
Commission would also be able to investigate this matter.

With regard to possible co-financing from the Structural Funds, more details would be required on the
nature of any alternative solutions in order to assess their eligibility under the operational programme for
the region.
is the Member State which assumes general
responsibility for the implementation, follow-up and effectiveness of Structural Fund initiatives.

It should also be borne in mind that

it

(1) OJ L 175, 5.7.1985.
(2) OJ L 73, 14.3.1997.
(3) OJ L 206, 22.7.1992.
(4) OJ L 194, 25.7.1975.
(5) OJ L 78, 26.3.1991.
(6) OJ L 182, 16.7.1999.
(7) OJ L 54, 25.2.1978.
(8) OJ L 378, 31.12.1982.
(9) OJ L 32, 3.2.1983.
(10) OJ L 377, 31.12.1991.
(11) OJ L 327, 22.12.2000.

(2004/C 51 E/077)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1253/03

by Carlos Bautista Ojeda (Verts/ALE) to the Council

Subject: Crisis in the European tourist industry

(3 April 2003)

At the end of 2002 the possibility of an armed conflict in Iraq put a freeze on the reserves for summer
2003 and this brought to a halt the tentative recovery which the tourist industry had been experiencing
since the middle of 2002. The outbreak of war in Iraq has only made matters worse.

This state of uncertainty may have a damaging effect on the European tourist industry and, consequently,
on the EU’s economy.

Has the Council done anything to alleviate this state of affairs and if so, what? If not, does the Council,
taking due account of the principle of subsidiarity, believe that it would be appropriate to implement a
common tourist policy so that structural and coordinating measures for an industry subject to the impact
of European-level developments can be promoted at EU level?

Reply

(29 September 2003)

The Honourable Member’s attention is drawn to the Council Resolution of 21 May 2002 on the future of
European tourism, which calls on the Commission to ‘present each year to the Advisory Committee on
Tourism a written and regularly updated note outlining the various measures envisaged by the
Commission which may affect
the tourism sector’ and for that Committee to be involved in the
monitoring of the measures proposed in the Commission communication ‘Working together for the future
of European tourism’. His attention is also drawn to the Council’s conclusions at the close of its meeting
on 19 May 2003.