WRITTEN QUESTION E-1577/03 by Roberta Angelilli (UEN) to the Commission. Use of GMOs in agriculture.
Date: 2003-05-08
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: environmental protection, food safety, genetically modified organism, health risk, intellectual property, restrictive-practice authorisation

C 33 E/136

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

6.2.2004

Does the Commission have any plans to extend the EU Emissions Trading Scheme to allow credits to be
claimed for coal mine methane projects?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(23 June 2003)

While there is comprehensive data available on methane emissions from coal mines that are in use, the
agreed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reporting guidelines under the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) do not include any methodology to estimate and
report methane emissions from disused coalmines. This means for the time being the emissions from
disused coalmines are not calculated or accounted for under internationally agreed guidelines.

The five countries reporting significant amounts methane from coalmines in use are: Germany, Greece,
Spain, France and the United Kingdom.

There are means of measuring the amount of methane emitted from disued coalmines.

Some Member States are working on methodologies to optimise the monitoring of methane from disused
coal mines in particular where methane is recovered.

The Commission is not aware of any Member State currently providing fiscal incentives to encourage the
extraction and use of coalmine methane. The British authorities have however notified a proposal to grant
the coal mine methane industry a full exemption from the British Climate Change Levy. This proposal is
currently under investigation under the State aid rules.

In the Council’s political compromise reached on energy taxation in March 2003, a possibility for a tax
exemption/reduction has been included in favour of electricity generated from methane emitted by
abandoned coalmines (see article 15(1)(b) fourth indent in Council document 8084/03 Fisc 59 of 3 April
2003). The Council is currently consulting the Parliament on this compromise.

As for other financial incentives, the Commission is only aware that electricity produced from coal mine
methane, including methane from disused coal mines, benefits from a price above the market price for
electricity in Germany. This is because coalmine methane is included in the definition of renewable energy
sources under the German legislation on renewable energy sources (Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz, EEG).
The Commission has decided that this measure does not constitute State aid (State aid case number NN
27/2000).

The Commission will carry out reviews in 2004 and 2006 considering whether to extend the Union
emissions trading scheme to other activities and to emissions of additional greenhouse gases, in accordance
with Article 30 of
the Common Position. These reviews will be comprehensive and so include
consideration of whether to bring methane emissions from disused coal mines within the coverage of the
Union emissions trading scheme. Any such step would depend upon reliable measuring and reporting
protocols being established.

(2004/C 33 E/135)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1577/03

by Roberta Angelilli (UEN) to the Commission

(8 May 2003)

Subject: Use of GMOs in agriculture

The Council of genetic rights, an independent body that seeks to establish links and inter-disciplinary
discussion between scientific,
legal, economic and philosophical experts in the biotechnology sphere,
recently called on the Italian government and European Commission to raise awareness among the
competent authorities of the applications of genetic engineering in farming and the patenting of genetic
inventions. The growing use of transgenic organisms in food products and animal feed is in fact causing

6.2.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 33 E/137

considerable confusion in terms of the safety and health of consumers as it is not yet possible to know
what effects the impact of GMOs will have on the environment and human beings. This appeal is intended
to draw attention, in particular, to a number of worrying cases observed by the Council, such as natural
hybridisation between genetically modified plants and wild plants, the bio-accumulation of genes that
codify insecticide proteins, the lack of immunity found in laboratory guinea pigs subjected to experiments
with potatoes modified with lectin and the possibility that virus resistant transgenic plants are responsible
for the development of viruses with new biological characteristics. Apart from the consequences for the
ecosystem and human beings, the patenting of genetic inventions, which is motivated by the profit-seeking
of an oligopoly of private firms, may have a significant impact on the agri-foodstuffs industry in general
and the farming system of less-developed areas in particular, with the risk of serious depletion of the
latter’s endogenous resources.

It therefore seems evident that it is essential to make sure that the use of GMOs in farming and foodstuffs
does not compromise the survival of traditional forms of farming and to protect consumers and the right
of farmers to continue in business. The recent statements by Commissioners Byrne and Wallström seem to
tackle the issue of GMOs solely from the point of view of labelling and information at the time of
purchase, rather than regulating the social, economic, political and ethical implications of the use of such
organisms.

That said, can the Commission indicate:

1. whether it is currently assessing measures to ensure that the above requirements are satisfied,

2. what the Union’s position is on defending the characteristics of traditional farming systems,

3. what instruments are currently in place within the Union to safeguard the health of consumers in

relation to the use of GMOs in foodstuffs?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(29 July 2003)

1.
At present the potentially adverse effects of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on human health
and the environment are assessed on a case-by-case basis for each application for the placing on the
market of a GMO, in accordance with Directive 2001/18/EC (1). This assessment, which meets very strict
standards, takes account of various aspects,
in particular the consequences of gene transfer between
genetically modified plants and wild plants resulting from the release of GMOs into the environment.

Also, under the Directive, where a potential risk to human health and the environment is identified,
appropriate measures may be taken (introducing separation distances between fields with GMO crops and
fields with conventional crops, for example) to reduce or limit the potential risk.

The Commission has confirmed that

2.
farmers should be free to choose their own system of
production and whether or not to use genetically modified plants. In practice this means that measures
must be taken to enable farming systems using GMOs and traditional forms of farming, for example, to
coexist.

At its meeting on 5 March 2003 the Commission came out in favour of a solution based on subsidiarity,
leaving it to the Member States to take appropriate measures to enable different types of farming to
coexist. Such measures must be tailored to the type of crop and the geographical and agricultural
conditions in the region of cultivation.

For traditional farming, practised particularly on small, fragmented farms, the measures will have to take
account of these parameters, socio-economic conditions and the costs involved.

C 33 E/138

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

6.2.2004

Regulation (EC) No 258/97 of the Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 1997 on novel foods
3.
and novel food ingredients (2) provides that food containing, consisting of, or produced from but no longer
containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have to be approved before being placed on the market
in the Community. One of the main criteria for approval is that such food must not present a danger for
the consumer. A Commission proposal for a Regulation on genetically modified food and feed is currently
on its second reading in Parliament (3). The objective of this proposal is, inter alia, to improve the current
approval procedure in Regulation (EC) No 258/97 to make it more efficient and transparent. The criterion
for approval that GM food must not present a danger to human health remains unchanged.

(1) Directive 2001/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 March 2001 on the deliberate release
into the environment of genetically modified organisms and repealing Council Directive 90/220/EEC, OJ L 106,
17.4.2001.

(2) OJ L 43, 14.2.1997.
(3) OJ C 304 E, 30.10.2001.

(2004/C 33 E/136)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1584/03

by Philip Bushill-Matthews (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(5 May 2003)

Subject: Unfair subsidies

Is the Commission aware that since November 2002, the Strasbourg Chamber of Commerce and the
Lower Rhine has subsidised the air service between London Stansted and Strasbourg by RyanAir to the
extent of EUR 1,7 million in the first year, thereby allowing RyanAir to offer tickets at an artificially low
price? Is the Commission aware that this discriminatory subsidy is driving a competitor, Brit Air, which
was profitable until last year, out of the market? What action will the Commission take, and how soon, to
stamp out this and similar unfair public subsidies to individual private enterprises?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(2 June 2003)

The Commission is currently investigating a complaint about advantages granted by Strasbourg airport.
The complaint was registered by the Commission on 16 April 2003 and the author has requested that his
identity be kept confidential.

The Commission will have to decide what action to take on the basis of its analysis pursuant to the
provisions of the EC Treaty on State aid (Articles 87 and 88 of the Treaty).

For the record, the Commission has decided to launch a formal
investigation in a case concerning
payments made by an airport and a region to a low-cost company, that relating to the advantages received
by Ryanair in Charleroi (Belgium). The reasons for this investigation have been made public and are
published in the Official Journal of the European Union (1). The Commission will take a decision on this
case on the basis of the information it is currently gathering from the parties concerned and the Belgian
authorities in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 659/1999 (2).

(1) OJ C 18, 25.1.2003.
(2) Regulation (EC) No 659/1999 of 22 March 1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Article 93 of the

EC Treaty, OJ L 83, 27.3.1999.