WRITTEN QUESTION E-1573/03 by Phillip Whitehead (PSE) to the Commission. Europe by Satellite and television coverage of the work of the European Institutions.
Date: 2003-05-08
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European television, communications policy, dissemination of EU information, statistics, television

C 33 E/134

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

6.2.2004

prevention measures, as these have already been incorporated for the majority of the regions of the
Southern Member States in their Rural Development Plans, in accordance with Council Regulation (EC)
No 1257/1999 of 17 May 1999 (3). The Community will thus continue its financial support to national
forest protection policies through Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 and ‘Forest Focus’ that together
will continue all the previous actions developed against forest fires.

On 4 March 2003 the Council reached a new political agreement on a common position for ‘Forest Focus’.
The common position will be sent to the Parliament for a second reading in accordance with the co-
decision procedure. The new agreement (cid:1) still under debate (cid:1) foresees also some special provisions for
awareness-raising campaigns and special training for agents involved in fire prevention interventions when
such measures are not yet included in the rural development programmes. A part of these funds could be
used also to co-finance organisations of volunteers, although such activities still remain under the main
responsibility of Member States and their local authorities.

(1) OJ L 217, 31.7.1992.
(2) OJ C 20 E, 28.1.2003.
(3) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999.

(2004/C 33 E/133)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1573/03

by Phillip Whitehead (PSE) to the Commission

(8 May 2003)

Subject:

‘Europe by Satellite’ and television coverage of the work of the European Institutions

Recognising the important contribution that television coverage of European affairs can make to popular
understanding of the EU institutions, would the Commission make public the statistics and information
regarding ‘Europe by Satellite’ for the last three years, namely:

1.

total hours transmitted and language versions available;

2. proportions of coverage relating to the European Parliament, European Commission, Council of

Ministers and the European Council;

3. hours take-up for rebroadcasting by commercial and public services TV stations in wider Europe,

country by country?

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(2 June 2003)

The Commission is pleased to inform the Honourable Member that the information requested has already
been forwarded to Parliament’s Audiovisual service and will shortly be put on the Europa website.

However, for ease of reference, the Commission is pleased to attach the following extracts:

1. Total of Europe by Satellite (EbS) transmissions and language versions

EbS transmitted a total of 2 968 hours in 2000, 3 273 in 2001 and 3 077 in 2002. The lower figure in
2002 is due to the discontinuation of the retransmission of the day’s press conferences, because this
service was taken over by the ‘Video on Demand’ facility on EbS’s website, where all EbS material remains
available for one week after transmission.

All live transmissions are available in up to 11 official languages, depending on how many audio channels
the respective institutions can offer (Parliament offers 12 audio channels (cid:1) 1 for the original and 11 for
the interpretation into the official Union languages (cid:1) the Commission 10 and the Council 4). Parliament
and the Commission plan to offer live coverage of events in up to 25 languages in 2004.

6.2.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 33 E/135

2.

Breakdown by Union institution of EbS news summaries and full coverage

Origin of ‘news’ material and of full coverage
of events (hours)

2000

%

2001

%

2002

%

European Commission

European Parliament

Council

Others

976

545

365

30

50,90

28,45

19,05

1,60

1 222

623

445

65

51,88

26,45

18,90

2,77

544

459

284

279

34,73

29,31

18,13

17,83

Total

1 916

100

2 355

100

1 566

100

3.

Take-up of EbS material by TV stations

For the past three years there has been no system available permanently to monitor the take-up by TV
stations of pictures transmitted by EbS. However, two experimental technologies were tested in 2000
(watermarking) and 2003 (picture matching), with a view to launching a call for tender for a permanent
system. To illustrate this, below are extracts from the two reports:

During the second half of 2000, an independent firm named Medialink measured the use of EbS
transmissions from a sample of 79 national and pan-European television stations of the 627 which
use EbS regularly. 90 % of these stations each broadcast an average of 25 programmes including EbS
pictures. In Germany alone, 23 international, national and regional stations such as 3Sat, Phoenix,
ARD, ZDF, N-TV and Bayerische Rundfunk broadcast 503 programmes including EbS pictures.

In 2003, JLM Conseil carried out a survey on the use of EbS pictures between 19 and 21 March,
during the European Council.
JLM’s report shows that a sample of 12 television stations from
Denmark, Spain and France, plus two cross-border stations, broadcast 153 news items in three days,
76 % of which contained EbS pictures. The pictures took up almost half
(49,4 %) of the total
broadcasting time.

The above reports are available on request and will shortly be published on the website (1).

(1) The 2002 figures are lower because the statistics for the previous two years included the retransmission of ‘news’
(live or recorded) coverage of events. The figures for 2000 and 2001 without

the full

summaries and of
retransmissions would be about 1/3 of the ones mentioned here.

(2004/C 33 E/134)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1575/03

by Chris Davies (ELDR) to the Commission

(8 May 2003)

Subject: Greenhouse gas emissions from disused coal mines

What contribution to greenhouse gas emissions within the EU does the Commission estimate is derived
from methane from disused coal mines?

In which Member States does the Commission believe this is most likely to be a significant factor as a
proportion of total emissions?

Do reliable means of measuring the amount of methane escaping from disused coal mines exist?

Which Member States currently provide financial or fiscal incentives to encourage the extraction and use
of coal mine methane?