WRITTEN QUESTION E-2927/03 by Michl Ebner (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Urgent need to expand voluntary fire services.
Date: 2003-10-06
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: civil defence, fire protection, non-governmental organisation, voluntary work

C 78 E/190

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

27.3.2004

(2004/C 78 E/0196)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2924/03

by Salvador Garriga Polledo (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: European Council to guarantee energy supplies

(6 October 2003)

Summer 2003 will be remembered, inter alia, for the number of electricity black-outs which left various
international communities deprived of the energy supplies, that public authorities should guarantee their
citizens.

The fact that one of those communities was London, the capital of the UK, has led analysts to wonder
whether the EU needs a European Consultative Council for guaranteeing energy supplies, in all forms, so
that the distress occasioned by this summer’s blackouts does not spread to other parts of the Community.

Does the Commission believe that it should set up a consultative council for secure energy supplies, with a
view to protecting the whole EU from black-outs?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(13 November 2003)

No electricity system can be 100 % immune from interruptions. Having said that, a repeat of the large
number of incidents during 2003 on a regular basis would be unacceptable to European citizens.

Generally, the Commission believes that it is the task of Member States to ensure the continuity of
electricity supplies. This applies both to generation adequacy (sufficient generation capacity to meet the
consumption at any time) and to network adequacy (sufficient transmission and distribution network
capacity to serve the loads at any time).

However, as the electricity transmission of the whole Europe is interconnected, there is a need for a close
co-operation between the system operators. To this end, the Union of Co-ordination of Transmission of
Electricity (UCTE) at the request of the ‘Florence’ Electricity Regulation Forum, has initiated the work on
the Operational Handbook which aims at binding security and reliability rules in the UCTE network.

This work serves mainly to consolidate existing agreements between system operators which have been in
place for a number of years. The Commission, European regulators, the transmission system operator
(TSOs) outside the UCTE area and other stakeholders have also participated in this work. The Regulation
on cross-border trade of electricity provides for the possibility to include, in the guidelines on congestion
management, common rules on minimum safety and operational standards for the use and operation of
the network. It is the intention of the Commission that the future guidelines will include basic rules of this
type in support of the development of the Handbook.

It is also considered important that the regulatory framework in place ensures adequate investments to the
electricity generation and transmission infrastructure in medium and long term. The Commission intends
to produce a Communication on this subject by the end of 2003, which will contain some specific
proposals on this subject.

(2004/C 78 E/0197)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2927/03

by Michl Ebner (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(6 October 2003)

Subject: Urgent need to expand voluntary fire services

Mediterranean countries have again been hit this summer by devastating forest and bush fires. Large
numbers of people have fallen victim to fires in Portugal and the south of France, which have been

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Official Journal of the European Union

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unusually frequent and have affected an unusually wide area. Enormous damage has also been caused both
to the natural environment and the economy. It was only by deploying large numbers of personnel, and
thanks to the help of numerous volunteers, that the fires were able to be brought under control.
Discussions on the possibility of promoting the use of voluntary fire services date back to 1996.

To what extent is expansion of voluntary fire services, such as already exist in the South Tyrol, Austria and
Germany, planned? Is such expansion also supported in Mediterranean countries?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(30 October 2003)

The Commission fully agrees with the Honourable Member regarding the role and the importance of
volunteers and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) involved in the field of civil protection.

It appreciates the great work done by voluntary fire-fighters during the summer facing the overwhelming
fires, especially in the southern Member States.

Already in 2002 a Union project on the role of non-governmental volunteers in the field of civil
protection was finalised. This was conducted within the framework of
the civil protection action
programme (1). (Its results can be accessed on the website of the civil protection unit within Directorate
General Environment: http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/civil/).

The project aimed at
identifying the civil protection structure in the Member States and how the
competent authorities could best benefit from NGOs or volunteers experience while including them in the
civil protection system.

In the present action programme the Commission foresees for next year an activity to raise the awareness
for volunteering in civil protection, obviously including the sector of volunteer fire fighting.

Finally, the Commission is open to any kind of initiative in this field, taking duly into account the principle
of subsidiarity.

(1) Council Decision 1999/847/EC of 9 December 1999 establishing a Community action programme in the field of

civil protection, OJ L 327, 21.12.1999.

(2004/C 78 E/0198)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2935/03

by Monica Frassoni (Verts/ALE)
and Guido Sacconi (PSE) to the Commission

(6 October 2003)

Subject: Inclusion of waste among the energy sources coming under the arrangements applying to

renewable energy sources

Article 2(a) of Directive 2001/77/EC (1) on the promotion of electricity produced from renewable energy
sources in the internal electricity market states that the term ‘renewable energy sources’ covers, among
other things, ‘biomass’. Article 2(b) defines biomass as ‘the biodegradable fraction of products, waste and
residues from agriculture (including vegetal and animal substances), forestry and related industries, as well
as the biodegradable fraction of industrial and municipal waste’.

Article 15 (inclusion of waste among the energy sources coming under the arrangements applying to
renewable energy sources) of the draft Presidential Decree incorporating into national law Directive 2001/
77/EC on the promotion of electricity produced from renewable energy sources in the internal electricity
market, which is currently in the process of being adopted in Italy, provides that waste, including the non-
biodegradable fraction, will come under the arrangements applying to renewable energy sources.