WRITTEN QUESTION E-2458/03 by Concepció Ferrer (PPE-DE) to the Commission. High-speed rail network in southern Europe.
Date: 2003-07-23
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: France, Spain, common transport policy, high-speed transport, rail network

13.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 65 E/157

On 11 June 2003 the Commission mandated the Internal Audit Service to carry out an audit of Eurostat
contracts. On 9 July 2003 the Commission received a first interim report from Internal Audit Service (IAS)
and an analysis by DG BUDG of the audit reports established by the Internal Audit Capabilities on Eurostat
and decisions were taken accordingly and communicated to the Parliament. In particular, a special Task
Force under the authority of the Director of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has been set up.
Following the decision of the Commission of 23 July 2003, the duty of the Task Force Eurostat (TFES) is
to prepare a report for the Commission regarding the different administrative aspects of Eurostat files. Both
the TFES and the IAS work continue. It is the declared intention of the Commission to keep the Parliament
regularly informed on these matters.

In the context of the 2001 Discharge, the Commission has already stated that it currently establishing a
central contract database. The information required by the Honourable Member has to be obtained via the
data warehouse application which provides data on budgetary appropriations committed in favour of third
parties. In its replies to other recent Parliamentary Questions, the Commission has already given detailed
information on commitments with and payments to most of the entities mentioned by the Honourable
Member.

(2004/C 65 E/172)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2458/03

by Concepció Ferrer (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(23 July 2003)

Subject: High-speed rail network in southern Europe

links Genoa-Marseille-Barcelona-Valencia and Lisbon-Madrid-Barcelona-Lyon-Paris are of major
The rail
importance for the southern European economy. However,
repeated delays are holding back the
completion of the line between Madrid and Lleida/Lérida, which should have been inaugurated at the end
of 2002. This stretch is an essential part of the high-speed link that will connect both Madrid and
Barcelona to the French frontier. Meanwhile, the French government appears unwilling to upgrade the
stretch between Nîmes and the Spanish frontier to high-speed status. What action does the Commission
intend to take to ensure the development of this trans-European network in accordance with the Treaties?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(12 September 2003)

The Community is using the trans-European transport network (TEN-T) budget to help finance studies and
works with a view to increasing the capacity of the existing Perpignan-Nîmes line to cope with the extra
traffic which will result from the entry into service of the new Figueras-Perpignan line (scheduled for
2008-2009).

It is also contributing, again from the TEN-T budget, to the preliminary studies for the construction of an
entirely new line between the Spanish border and Nîmes, which would enter into service in stages between
2010 and 2015 depending on the degree of saturation of each section of the existing line.

Accordingly, if this project has fallen behind its initial schedule whereby the entire line was to have entered
into service in 2010 (and the Commission can only regret such a delay),
it must be stressed that
implementation of these projects remains entirely the responsibility of the Member States. In the context of
the High-Level Group chaired by Mr Karel Van Miert,
the Commission sought and obtained firm
commitments from the French authorities that they would keep to the dates indicated above.