WRITTEN QUESTION E-1453/03 by Hiltrud Breyer (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. European Parliament resolution of 28 January 1999 (A4-0005/1999) on the environment, security and foreign policy.
Date: 2003-04-28
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: biological weapon, common foreign and security policy, competence of the Member States, environmental impact, environmental protection, environmental standard, impact study, international agreement, military research, public health

C 33 E/120

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

6.2.2004

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(10 June 2003)

The Regulation is a legal instrument directly applicable in all Member States. The Commission has not so
far received any complaints regarding failure to apply this Regulation.

In the Commission’s opinion, the situation described by the Honourable Members does not constitute a
‘gap in the law’ since, in practice, non-EU transport companies’ rights of access to the European road
haulage market are limited to permits issued by the ECMT (European Conference of Ministers of
Transport), as described below, and under specific bilateral agreements (triangular authorisations). The
common rules can be applied to non-EU countries only subject to agreements which would have to be
negotiated with those countries, and it would be unnecessarily complicated to enter into negotiations for a
number of agreements (involving long, difficult procedures) given the limited nature of the access rights in
question. Furthermore, Regulation (EC) No 484/2002 (1) amends Regulation (EEC) No 881/92, which
applies only to European Union territory. Lastly, the measure which the Honourable Members advocate,
requiring merely that the terms of employment comply with the regulations of a non-EU State, would not
serve to harmonise the conditions of competition with those in force within the European Union.

The ECMT system is autonomous and is not governed by Community law. The Commission is not
therefore competent to give an opinion on holders’ use of ECMT permits. Nonetheless, the Honourable
Members’ concerns about permit misuse have been raised at meetings of the ECMT members and a
decision was taken at the last ministerial-level meeting to reform the permit system and to require hauliers
to return to their country of origin at the end of at most a six week period. This reform will be put into
effect on an experimental basis for a period of one year commencing 1 January 2004.

The purpose of the Regulation on driver attestation is to make it possible to check whether drivers are
employed lawfully. Self-employed activities are outside the scope of the Regulation.

(1) Regulation (EC) No 484/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 1 March 2002 amending Council
Regulations (EEC) No 881/92 and (EEC) No 3118/93 for the purposes of establishing a driver attestation, OJ L 76,
19.3.2002.

(2004/C 33 E/120)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1453/03

by Hiltrud Breyer (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(28 April 2003)

Subject: European Parliament resolution of 28 January 1999 (A4-0005/1999) on the environment, security

and foreign policy

With reference to paragraphs 26 to 29 of the European Parliament resolution of 28 January 1999 on the
environment, security and foreign policy (A4-0005/1999 (1)):

1. With regard to paragraph 26, has the Commission examined whether there are environmental and
public health implications for Arctic Europe arising from the HAARP programme, and will it be
reporting to Parliament concerning its findings? If so, what implications have been identified?

2. With regard to paragraph 27, what steps has the Commission taken to establish and enforce an
international convention introducing a global ban on all developments and deployments of weapons
which might enable any form of manipulation of human beings?

3. With regard to paragraph 28, what steps has the Commission taken to conclude international treaties

to protect the environment from unnecessary destruction in the event of war?

4. With regard to paragraph 29, what steps has the Commission taken with a view to the establishment

of international standards for the environmental impact of peacetime military activities?

(1) OJ C 128, 7.5.1999, p. 92.

6.2.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 33 E/121

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(3 July 2003)

The High frequency Active Auroral Research Programme (HAARP)
for Arctic Europe is a military
programme. The Commission has no competence, nor indeed the expertise, to carry out the examination
requested by the Parliament in paragraph 26 of its Resolution.

With regard to the requests made in paragraphs 27 to 29, these deal with international treaties and
standards which are predominantly concerned with military questions, e.g. on disarmament, and therefore
fall within the competence of the Member States.

(2004/C 33 E/121)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1462/03

by Joaquim Miranda (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

Subject: Social situation in Portugal and Stability and Growth Pact

(29 April 2003)

According to figures published this week by the Union’s Statistical Office, over a fifth of the Portuguese
population were threatened with poverty in 1999. Portugal thus has the highest poverty rate in the Union,
21 %, a figure that would increase to 27 % if there were no state welfare benefits (unemployment benefit
and guaranteed minimum income).

This week the Commission has also predicted that unemployment in Portugal will rise by approximately
27,5 % in 2003, giving an unemployment rate of 6,5 % at the end of the year, and continue to worsen in
2004, when the number out of work will total 390 000. Furthermore, Portugal is unquestionably going
through an economic recession and in 2003 will not meet the Government’s initial growth forecast of
1,3 %. According to very recent IMF figures, its economic development in the period from 2002 to 2004
will be the weakest in the Union, with all the social consequences which that will entail.

However, and still within the same week, the Commission has called for strict compliance with the
Stability and Growth Pact and, despite the disastrous social scenarios referred to above, recommended that
spending in areas such as education, health, and social security be cut as a matter of priority.

The Commission:

1. Does it not believe that the present circumstances and the related prospects for change are profoundly

and seriously at odds with the socially harmful measures being proposed?

2. Which is a matter of greater concern to the Commission, rising unemployment and deepening poverty
in a Member State or the trend recorded in that Member State in a financial indicator of one kind or
another, a trend undoubtedly determined, moreover, entirely without regard to scientific principles
and based on economic projections which have not been fulfilled and which monetarist policies
themselves have contrived to make impracticable?

3. To what extent can the Stability and Growth Pact be considered an article of faith, given its known
adverse effects on growth, cohesion, and the social sphere? Does the Commission have any intention
of proposing to the Council that the pact be made more flexible, revised, or suspended?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(6 June 2003)

1.
The Commission does not believe that a framework geared to economic stability, of which the
Stability and Growth Pact is a central piece, is in any way at odds with the attainment of social objectives.
On the contrary, it is precisely the absence of macroeconomic stability that can eventually jeopardise the
attainment of social objectives.