WRITTEN QUESTION E-1356/03 by Margrietus van den Berg (PSE) to the Commission. International flood-management plans.
Date: 2003-04-10
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EAGGF, EU initiative, European Regional Development Fund, Germany, Netherlands, cross-border cooperation, flood, rural development, water management, watercourse

C 70 E/38

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

20.3.2004

(2004/C 70 E/042)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1356/03

by Margrietus van den Berg (PSE) to the Commission

Subject: International flood-management plans

(10 April 2003)

During a recent working visit together with local and regional administrators from both the Netherlands
and Germany, and including Members of the Netherlands Second Chamber, to the Ooypolder/Duffelt
region of the Netherlands, I was confronted with a discussion on emergency flood plains providing
drainage for overflow water from the river Rhine. A management plan has been drawn up by the
Netherlands authorities that will extend no further than the Netherlands border, whereas the river basin
extends far beyond that border.

Is the Commission prepared,

in accordance with the water framework directive (2000/60/EC (1)),
1.
actively to encourage regional authorities in Germany and the Netherlands to draw up their flood-
management plans jointly? And is it prepared (cid:1) if the Member States concerned so request (cid:1) to provide
support for such action?

2.
Does the Commission agree that this example only serves further to confirm that, in addition to
water quality, water quantity (cid:1) with all its ecological implications (cid:1) should also be regulated, by way of a
framework directive and under a European water authority established to that end, at European level?

If so, will the Commission be prepared to ensure that management plans drawn up by such a water

3.
authority will also be supported by the regional and local authorities and civic organisations concerned?

(1) OJ L 327, 22.12.2000, p. 1.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(5 June 2003)

Comprehensive crossborder and transnational cooperation on flood prevention and protection is already
ongoing, both within river basins and at European level. The regions on the Dutch-German border
mentioned by the Honourable Member, are a successful example of such cooperation across borders,
planning and acting within the basins of Rhine and Maas.

The International Rhine Protection Commission has, at a Ministerial Conference in Rotterdam in 1998,
adopted the Rhine Flood Action Plan which is currently being implemented, and the recently signed new
River Conventions for Maas and Schelde (1) have flood prevention and protection as key parts. Further,
crossborder cooperation is prevailing in the Elbe, Danube, Oder and Schelde river basins, with flood
prevention being a statutory objective within these crossborder river conventions.

Complementing this crossborder cooperation within river basins, the Commission, Member States and
Candidate Countries have (cid:1) beyond the formal scope of the Water Framework Directive (2) (cid:1) commenced
comprehensive cooperation on flood prediction, prevention and mitigation. Exchange of information,
knowledge and experience will lead during 2003 to a joint document on best practices in flood prediction,
initiative
prevention and mitigation. At the same time, the Commission is working on a horizontal
addressing environmental risks (forest fires, earthquakes, flood events, and technological risks), with a
Commission Communication foreseen during the first half of 2003. Following discussion on this
Communication and the collating of best practices, the Commission will consider need and scope of
possible legislative frameworks. In parallel, the Commission’s Joint Research Centre has developed a flood
prediction and modelling instrument for the Oder river basin, this instruments is now to be applied to and
made operational for the Elbe and Danube basins as well.

Crossborder and transnational cooperation on flood prevention and protection is also encouraged and
financially supported by the Community funding instruments. In the case of the region on the German-
Dutch border mentioned by the Honourable Member, the transnational initiative ‘IRMA’ (Interreg Rhine
Maas Activities) has just been successfully finalised. Planning and implementation involved, in transnational
cooperation, countries, regions and local communities of Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands and Switzerland. Community funding has been provided from the European Fund for Regional
Development (ERDF), by the Community Initiative Interreg. For flood prevention and protection measures

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Official Journal of the European Union

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in the Rhine and Maas regions, more than EUR 140 million have been made available from the ERDF,
contributing to a total
investment of more than EUR 400 million. The findings and successes of this
transnational cooperation have just been presented at a conference in Düsseldorf on 11 April 2003, with
participation of German and Dutch Ministries, regions and water boards (‘waterschappen’) and in a booklet
published ‘Hoogwater dreigt … samen sterk!/Impeding floods … united we stand!’, with a foreword by Mr
H. Kamp, Dutch Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment. In the current programming
period of the structural funds (2000-2006), the Interreg III community initiative will continue the work
started with the ‘IRMA’ programme, by means of the ‘North-West Europe’ programme. This programme
has reserved some EUR 92,3 million, of which EUR 46,2 million from the ERDF, for flood prevention and
protection actions with the measure ‘The prevention of flood damage’ (3).

The European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) provides under the Rural Development
Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 (4), article 33, the possibility to support measures for water-management
which could include flood prevention measures. The introduction of appropriate instruments to prevent
the agricultural and forestry production potential against natural disasters is eligible under this Regulation
as well. Member States can include these measures in their Rural Development Plans. Cross-border
co-operation between the competent authorities is possible to design and implement such measures, as
part of an integrated flood prevention concept.

(1) New International Conventions for the Protection of the Maas river and of the Schelde river, signed at Gent
3 December 2002; Maas: http://www.cipm-icbm.be/accord.asp; Schelde: http://www.icbs-cipe.com/NL/d_frame-
set.htm
(2) Whilst

floods and droughts
(cf. Article 1(e)), it does not per se set operational targets for flood prevention and flood protection, not least with
a view to the legal basis of article 175(1) Treaty; Directive 2000/60/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of
23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy, OJ L 327,
22.12.2000.

the Water Framework Directive will contribute to mitigating the effects of

(3) http://www.nweurope.org
(4) Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 of 17 May 1999 on support for rural development from the European
Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and amending and repealing certain Regulations, OJ L 160,
26.6.1999.

(2004/C 70 E/043)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1380/03

by Anne Jensen (ELDR) to the Commission

(15 April 2003)

Subject: Wage subsidies in Germany

According to Danish media reports, German tradesmen are entitled to receive wage subsidies from the
German state, thereby substantially reducing the cost of their labour. Apparently, certain German building
firms have endeavoured with the backing of such wage subsidies to enter the construction market in
Denmark. This means that, thanks to the subsidy from the German state, they can practice price dumping
and out-bid Danish building firms that are not in receipt of wage subsidies.

Will the Commission advise whether this kind of wage subsidy does in actual fact distort competition and
run counter to the EU’s competition rules?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(4 June 2003)

The information available to the Commission does not allow to identify the German public support
measure, as described in Danish media reports and as referred to by the Honourable Member. Therefore,
the Commission requested Germany to provide all necessary information. Should the German measure
exist and contain state aid in the meaning of Article 87 paragraph 1 of the EC Treaty, and should this aid