WRITTEN QUESTION E-3278/03 by José Ribeiro e Castro (UEN) to the Commission. Macao — Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation.
Date: 2003-11-05
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU relations, Macao, cooperation policy, economic relations, international conference, trade relations

C 78 E/248

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

27.3.2004

is the phasing out of halons in fire-fighting equipment in ships. Fire
high ozone depleting potential,
protection systems containing halon have to be decommissioned before the 31 December 2003 and the
halon recovered in accordance with Article 16 of the Regulation.

More generally, as regards reducing ship emissions of greenhouse gases listed in the Kyoto Protocol, the
Commission believes that much remains to be done. A recent ship emissions quantification study for the
Commission estimated that ships in Union seas emitted 157 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in the year
2000 (cid:1) more than land-based emissions in nine individual Member States. The Kyoto Protocol does not
directly address emissions from shipping, instead its Article 2.2 calls for parties to pursue the limitation or
reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from international ships’ bunker fuels working through the
International Maritime Organization (IMO).

therefore,

The IMO has,
taken responsibility for this issue, and its Maríne Environment Protection
Committee has finalised a draft resolution on an IMO Greenhouse Gas strategy, which will be considered
at the 23rd IMO Assembly in December 2003. The Union Council of Ministers has urged the IMO to
adopt a concrete, ambitious strategy on greenhouse gases, and the Commission and a number of Member
States, including the Netherlands, are actively participating in discussions on the IMO resolution, with a
view to ensuring the resulting strategy is indeed concrete and ambitious.

As regards Union measures to reduce emissions of greenhouse gas emissions from shipping, the 6th
Environment Action Programme requests the Commission to identify and undertake specific actions to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions from marine shipping if no such action is agreed within the International
Maritime Organization by 2003. This commitment
is echoed in the Commission’s more recent
Communication to the Parliament and to the Council on a European Union Strategy to reduce
atmospheric emissions from seagoing ships (2), which proposes an Union objective to reduce ships’ unitary
emissions of carbon dioxide, and which commits the Commission to consider Union action to reduce ship
greenhouse gas emissions if no concrete measures are agreed at the IMO in 2003.

(1) OJ L 244, 29.9.2000.
(2) COM(2002) 595 final, Vol I.

(2004/C 78 E/0251)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3278/03

by José Ribeiro e Castro (UEN) to the Commission

(5 November 2003)

Subject: Macao (cid:1) Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation

The Ministerial Meeting of
Portuguese-speaking Countries was held in Macao on 12, 13 and 14 October this year.

the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and

It was referred to explicitly in the EP resolution, adopted on 8 April 2003, on the report from the
Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on the Macao Special Administrative Region:
First and Second Annual Reports, in which the EP pointed out that ‘Macao, because of its history and long-
standing links with Europe, in particular through Portugal, is well placed to act as a bridge between the
European Union and the People’s Republic of China (PRC)’ and that ‘the governments of the MSAR and the
PRC have both recently laid down and have been implementing a policy seeking to capitalise on Macao’s
position as a hub for China’s relations with the entire Portuguese-speaking world’.

27.3.2004

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Official Journal of the European Union

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According to the information available the meeting went well and was most promising.

These developments are of major importance for Europe in general and the EU in particular, since they
create a new opportunity for two-way international cooperation with China, based on the third most
important European language spoken worldwide, Portuguese, and with Macao as the hub.

Can the Commission therefore say:

(cid:1) whether it sent any representatives or observers to the meeting;

(cid:1) what information it has gathered and what conclusions it has drawn;

(cid:1) what effect these matters will have on enhanced European cooperation with Macao, as mentioned in

the EP resolution adopted on 8 April 2003?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(11 December 2003)

The Commission was not invited to participate in the first forum for economic and trade cooperation
between China and Portuguese-speaking countries held in Macao on 12, 13 and 14 October. It was
therefore not represented at this meeting.

Nonetheless,
it has taken note of the signing of an action plan for economic and trade cooperation
between China and the seven Portuguese-speaking countries and of the ‘hub’ role for relations between the
two parties assigned to Macao by the forum’s participants. The Commission also notes with interest the
Special Administrative Region’s designation as the forum’s permanent secretary for the organisation of a
second meeting in 2006.

The Commission notes that these fresh developments follow on from its own communication on Macao
dating back to 1999 (1), which states that in the EU’s view Macao has a key role to play as a bridge
between Asia and Europe. That role is reflected in current cooperation between the Commission and the
Special Administrative Region of Macao.

(1) COM(1999) 484 final.

(2004/C 78 E/0252)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3279/03

by Maurizio Turco (NI) to the Commission

(30 October 2003)

Subject: Quality checks by the Commission on the Clearance Audit Trail System (CATS) database

Knowing that:

(a) Extracts from the European Commission’s Clearance Audit Trail System (CATS) database, which
contains data from the Member States on refunds for exports of Community agricultural products to
third countries, were annexed to the supplementary answer to Written Question P-3202/02 (1).