WRITTEN QUESTION P-2174/03 by Françoise Grossetête (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Measures to combat climate change.
Date: 2003-06-25
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU environmental policy, climate change, energy policy, environmental protection, renewable energy, research and development, sustainable development

C 58 E/140

Official Journal of the European Union

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6.3.2004

The Commission:

1.

Is it aware of this serious omission?

2. What action does it intend to take to ensure that Italy implements the legislation on preventive
information of the population in good and due form, given that thirteen years have elapsed since the
adoption of Directive 89/618?

3. Does it not consider it desirable to call on the Italian government to suspend all new nuclear activities

until it has complied with its obligations regarding prevention?

(1) OJ L 357, 7.12.1989, p. 31.

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(9 September 2003)

Council Directive 89/618/Euratom of 27 November 1989 on informing the general public about health
protection measures to be applied and steps to be taken in the event of a radiological emergency was
transposed into Italian law by Chapter 10 (‘nuclear emergency situation’) of Legislative Decree No 230 of
17 March 1995.

Implementation of the general rules on preventive public information was made conditional upon two
decrees being adopted by the Minister for Health (Articles 133 and 134 of the Legislative Decree). The first
of these was to set up a standing committee to establish both the contents of the preventive information
and how it is to be disseminated, while the second was to designate the authorities responsible inter alia
for supplying the information. With more specific regard to the legal framework for emergency planning
relating to operations to transport radioactive materials, Article 125 of the Legislative Decree stipulates
that a decree is to specify how and when such planning is to operate.

The Commission can assure the Honourable Members that it intends to check with the Italian authorities
that the implementing decrees referred to in Articles 125, 133 and 134 have indeed been adopted and
what measures have been taken in the particular context of operations to transport radioactive materials.

(2004/C 58 E/156)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2174/03

by Françoise Grossetête (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(25 June 2003)

Subject: Measures to combat climate change

In view of the leading role played by the European Union in combating climate change, can the
Commission explain the differential between the Community and US appropriations allocated to the
programme concerning the use of hydrogen (cf. the Hydrogen Act)?

How does the Commission envisage its approach to this American policy and the problems which may
affect competition in the more or less long term?

Answer given by Mr Busquin on behalf of the Commission

(25 July 2003)

The challenge of climate change has many facets, which are addressed through different Community
instruments that are part of a common policy. Within the 6th Community Framework Programme for
Research, Technology Development and Demonstration (RTD) (2002-2006), a budget of EUR 2 120 million
is allocated to research on ‘Sustainable development, global change and ecosystems’, most of which will

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Official Journal of the European Union

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contribute to combating climate change. Within this budget, EUR 810 million will be devoted to
‘Sustainable Energy Systems’ (SES). Hydrogen and Fuel Cells are two main priorities of SES but energy
efficiency,
fuels, carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and
sequestration are other important components of research related to climate change.

renewable energy sources, alternative motor

In Europe,
total public expenditure in the field of hydrogen and fuel cells is estimated at some
EUR 150 million per year (Union and Member States). The United States (US) federal budget is about
EUR 300 million per year over the next five years subject to Senate approval. A better co-ordination of the
European and national programmes in a European Research Area would result in a better cost-benefit
impact. The US programme on a Hydrogen Economy draws more on fossil fuels, while research and
demonstration activities in the Union emphasise Renewable Energy Sources.

The Commission intends to set up a Technology Platform involving major Union stakeholders in order to
maintain a shared long-term vision and to elaborate a Strategic Research Agenda and Deployment Strategy.
This mechanism is expected to provide a consistent strategic framework for public/private partnerships
and raise overall investments in Europe for both RTD funding and deployment initiatives. At the same
time, the US and the Union are discussing the creation of International Partnerships to co-operate in order
to accelerate the development of the hydrogen economy.

(2004/C 58 E/157)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2189/03

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission

(2 July 2003)

Subject: Joint immigration management

The plans to set up a European border police force have to date not met with an adequate response. In the
mean time illegal immigration, which is increasingly assuming the proportions of a biblical exodus, is
continuing to take its tragic course, with the attendant toll of innocent victims and crimes. The hopes of
those who flee their countries are being exploited in an ignoble and intolerable way.

1.
Does the Commission believe that it should propose to the Council that provision be made for closer
cooperation among the Member States, enabling them to lay down common rules to deal with illegal
immigration?

2.
Does it think that it would be useful for agreements to be negotiated between the Union and the
countries from which populations are fleeing, the aim being to draw up economic and humanitarian
measures and combat the criminal activities of people smugglers, who almost invariably use means of
transport that cannot guarantee the passengers’ safety?

3. Will it call on the governments to accelerate the procedures for defining political refugee status and
adopting common standards?

4.
Can it supply figures on the immigrants whose status has already been or is in the process of being
put in order and specify the number of immigrants which each Member State intends to accept every year,
on a permanent or temporary basis, to meet the demand for labour?

5. What study opportunities are being offered to young people from the less developed countries,
bearing in mind not least Parliament’s proposals on aid to help them re-enter the world of work in their
countries of origin?