WRITTEN QUESTION E-2240/03 by Bartho Pronk (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Follow-up to an application for a driving licence in another EU Member State.
Date: 2003-07-07
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU law, European driving licence, interpretation of the law, residence, traffic regulations

C 78 E/96

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

27.3.2004

Although the main responsibility for the co-ordination and implementation of forest policy is at the level
of Member States, the Community has helped them in their efforts to fight against forest fires. A scheme to
protect and monitor forests against fire was established by Council Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92 of
23 July 1992 (1) and expired in 2002.

The Community continues its support to Member States against forest fires through the new Regulation
‘Forest Focus’ (cid:1) still under discussion (cid:1) and Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 of 17 May 1999 on
support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) (2).
These Regulations continue all the previous actions developed against forest fires, i.e. prevention measures
in the field and monitoring activities.

The Joint Research Centre has released official figures for forest fires in Greece which show that, during the
year 2001, the area burnt was below the average of recent decades and comparatively small, taking into
account the large number of fires there. The 2002 figures are still being finalised but they are expected to
show a similar decrease in the area burnt.

The Commission also has recognised the importance to increase the forest area through the support of
afforestation measures. Under Council Regulation (EEC) No 2080/92 of 30 June 1992 (3), instituting a
Community aid scheme for forestry measures in agriculture, Member States established one million
hectares of forest with the financial support of the Community. In 1999 this measure was incorporated
into Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999.

The most recent Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) publication ‘State of the World’s Forests’,
published in March 2003, shows that the forest area of Europe is slowly but continuously increasing at an
annual rate (cid:1) calculated for the period 1990-2000 (cid:1) of about + 0,1 %. The rate for Greece is + 0,9 %.
There is no official evidence to suggest a reduction of the forest area in Greece.

Statistical data that show the share of organic farming areas in Europe,
Agricultural Area), are available in the annex.

in total of UAA (Utilised

With regard to waste, the Commission does not yet have sufficient information to allow a general
overview of uncontrolled waste deposits in the Member States. However, on the basis of individual
complaints and other information received by the Commission, infringement procedures were launched
against a great number of Member States for non-respect of the Community legislation concerning its
treatment.

With regard to the over-abstraction of groundwater,
the existing Council Directive 80/68/EEC of
17 December 1979 on the protection of groundwater against pollution caused by certain dangerous
substances (4) does not deal with this issue, which will actually be regulated under 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 (5). This Directive has to be implemented by the Member States by the end of
2003. Therefore, no infringement procedures have been launched.

(1) OJ L 217, 31.7.1992.
(2) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999.
(3) OJ L 215, 30.7.1992.
(4) OJ L 20, 26.1.1980.
(5) OJ L 327, 22.12.2000.

(2004/C 78 E/0096)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2240/03

by Bartho Pronk (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(7 July 2003)

Subject: Follow-up to an application for a driving licence in another EU Member State

On 15 May 2003 the Commission answered my Written Question E-1269/03 (1). However, the answer is
incomplete. The Commission acknowledges that some applicants may not meet the 185-day requirement
in any Member State, but fails to deal with the second part of my question, namely what steps individuals
and Member States should take in such a case.

27.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 78 E/97

Can the Commission answer the following:

1.

2.

In the situation outlined above, what should citizens and Member States do in order to comply with
what the Commission sees as the clear requirement laid down in Directive 91/439/EEC (2)?

If a question consists of three parts, would it not be better for the Commission to answer each part
separately, so as to ensure that none is forgotten?

(1) OJ C 11 E, 15.1.2004, p. 171.
(2) OJ L 237, 24.8.1991, p. 1.

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(12 September 2003)

As the Commission has already indicated to the Honourable Member, the description of normal residence
given in Article 9 of Council Directive 91/439/EEC of 29 July 1991 on driving licences constitutes a
detailed definition of where a person has his or her normal residence. It also points to the solution to be
adopted in specific cases, including where a person does not live for at least 185 days a year in any
Member State. In this case, ‘the normal residence … shall be regarded as being the place of his personal
ties.’ Each person thus has a normal residence in one of the Member States and will need to approach the
authorities of that Member State in order to obtain a driving licence. Since the notion of normal residence
is also useful in respect of other dealings with the authorities, e.g. in relation to tax matters, members of
the public should in principle be in possession of such information.

(2004/C 78 E/0097)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2241/03

by Kathalijne Buitenweg (Verts/ALE)
and Jean Lambert (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(7 July 2003)

Subject: Funding of enforced return measures

In its communication (1), entitled ‘Integrating migration issues in the European Union’s relations with third
countries’, the European Commission refers to the possibility of establishing ‘financial instruments designed
to provide back-up to a return policy’ and states that such a move ‘would necessarily have to involve a
the European Refugee Fund’s appropriations given the reduced margin of
reallocation of some of
manoeuvre in the financial perspective for internal policies’. This would ‘result
in a corresponding
reduction of
finance available for the genuine solidarity effort which shaped the
establishment of the Fund’.

the amount of

In its communication of 11 June 2003 (2) the European Commission proposes, as a replacement for budget
Article B7-667, a programme of financial assistance for third countries in the sphere of migration and
asylum. According to the proposal, the measures which the Commission is seeking to support by means of
this programme do not include enforced returns.

In Conclusion 23 of the Thessaloniki Summit of 20 June 2003 the European Commission is invited to
examine the possibility of appropriating funds under Heading 3 of the financial perspective (internal
policies) with a view to financing an enforced return policy for third-country nationals illegally resident in
the EU.

1.
Does the Commission regard the financing of an enforced return policy as consistent with the
subsidiarity principle, given that as yet no European minimum standards have been laid down stipulating
who may legally reside in a Member State (as a refugee or migrant) and who may not?