WRITTEN QUESTION E-0242/04 by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission. Parkinson's disease.
Date: 2004-02-02
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: disease of the nervous system, disease prevention, elderly person, health policy, health statistics, public awareness campaign, public health

3.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 84 E/179

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(3 March 2004)

Article 21 of Directive 2000/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 March 2000
relating to cableway installations designed to carry persons (1) specifies that Member States should have
adopted and published the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this
Directive by 3 May 2002.

Germany has thus been under an obligation to take the necessary measures to transpose the Directive into
national law within the required time. According to the information available to the Commission, this has
not yet been done in full; only the Länder of Baden-Wurttemberg, Bavaria, Brandenburg, North Rhine-
Westphalia, Saarland, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia have adopted the above provisions.

Consequently, in accordance with Article 226 of the EC Treaty, after first giving Germany the opportunity
to comment (in a letter dated 16 September 2002) and then issuing a reasoned opinion (on 19 December
2002), on 16 October 2003 the Commission referred the matter to the Court of Justice on the grounds
that that Germany had failed to fulfil its obligations under the Directive by not adopting the necessary
provisions to transpose it into national law.

It should be pointed out that this Directive does not cover the actual operation of cableway installations.
It defines the essential safety requirements applying to the design, construction and putting into service of
the installations. The Directive is based on Article 95 of the EC Treaty and is also intended to eliminate
obstacles to the free movement of safety subsystems and components of cableway installations placed on
the internal market
from 3 May 2004 by manufacturers established anywhere in the Community,
including those regions in which there are no cableway installations.

Furthermore, according to the case law of the Court, the fact that an activity referred to in a directive does
not exist in a particular Member State cannot release that State from its obligation to transpose the
directive within the time limit (2).

Finally, the construction of cableway installations cannot automatically be ruled out in any of the Länder,
since this type of installation can be used not only in high-altitude tourist resorts but may also consist of
cableway installations used in urban transport facilities, as mentioned in the first recital of the Directive.

(1) OJ L 106, 3.5.2000.
(2) See the judgments of 15.03.1990, case C-339/87, Commission v. Netherlands, ECR 1990, p. I-851, point 22, and

16.11.2000, case C-214/98, Commission v. Greece, ECR 2000, p. I-9601, point 22.

(2004/C 84 E/0219)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0242/04

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission

(2 February 2004)

Subject: Parkinson’s disease

According to the World Health Organisation, worldwide there are an estimated 4 million people suffering
from Parkinson’s disease. In Europe, the overall prevalence of the disease is estimated to be 1,6 per 100 in
persons over 65 years of age. One person in 500 develops the disease, which already makes it the fourth
most common disorder of the nervous system, after epilepsy, cerebrovascular diseases and Alzheimer’s
disease. The situation is worsening as a result of the ageing of the population (cid:1) in 2020 there will be
40 percent more people over the age of 75 in Europe compared to 1990, which is likely to make
Parkinson’s disease a public health priority, with a significant increase in health costs. One of the most
effective surgical treatments available is deep brain stimulation. A medical device similar to a cardiac
pacemaker is implanted and used to transmit electrical stimulation to a specific area of the deep brain to
treat the disabling symptoms of the disease. The degree of stimulation can be regulated and the effects are
is very small.
reversible. The percentage of patients who have access to this innovative treatment

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Official Journal of the European Union

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3.4.2004

In Switzerland, for instance, it is 29,4 %, in France 9,8 %, in Spain 8,4 %, in Germany 5,2 % and in the
United Kingdom 4,6 %. In Italy the percentage of patients offered treatment is 5 %.

1.

Is the Commission aware of these figures, which reflect an emergency health problem in Europe?

Has the Commission made arrangements, in cooperation with the health services of the Member

2.
States, to monitor the incidence of Parkinson’s disease in the European population?

Does the Commission consider it necessary to launch an information campaign on Parkinson’s

3.
disease in view of the advisability of early treatment to slow down progression of the disease?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(27 February 2004)

The prevalence of Parkinson’s disease rises from 0,6 % at age 65 to 3,5 % at age 85 and above, with
1.
no great difference between men and women. It is one of the most common neuro-degenerative diseases
of the elderly. The differences between countries do not seem to be significant (data available for Spain,
France, Italy and the Netherlands, 1997) (Source: Public health in the EU, Sanco C, 2003).

There is no convincing evidence of differences in rates of prevalence in the countries of Europe. Estimates
suggest that approximately 400 000 men and 540 000 women of 65 and above living in the EU have
Parkinson’s disease. However, a substantial proportion of patients with Parkinson’s disease remains
undetected among the general population.

The Commission funded a study in 1998 on hospital discharges in certain EU countries for Alzheimer’s
and other neuro-degenerative diseases (including Parkinson’s), but covering different periods. The results
show the degree of hospitalisation for Parkinson’s disease to be very low.

Parkinson’s disease represents a serious health situation, as indeed do all the other disabling diseases
associated with the ageing of the population. Moreover, ‘health and ageing’ is actually one of the priority
themes in the Community Public Health Programme work plan 2004, strand 1, Health Information.

Apart from the abovementioned initiatives, the theme of neuro-degenerative diseases (including
2.
Parkinson’s) was not addressed, or was addressed only very marginally, in the previous health surveillance
programme (the sole exception was Alzheimer’s disease).

The new Community Public Health Programme 2003-2008 provides for the implementation of a disease
information and surveillance system. A specific working group on major and chronic diseases has been set
up, and its work will cover, ‘inter alia’, neuro-degenerative diseases.

The Community Public Health Programme opens up funding opportunities for activities designed to

3.
implement the Programme’s objectives. A call for proposals is due to be published shortly.

(2004/C 84 E/0220)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0244/04

by Joan Colom i Naval (PSE) to the Commission

(27 January 2004)

Subject: Spanish National Hydrological Plan (cid:1) cost and price of water

The water costs envisaged in Law No 10/2001 of 5 July 2003 on the Spanish National Hydrological Plan
(NHP) differ significantly from the average cost estimated in independent studies such as that by the
Fundación Nueva Cultura del Agua, which indicates that the average cost passed on to users will be
EUR 0,45 per cubic metre of water, while the figures from the Spanish Government, which defends the
economic and environmental viability of the NHP, show that cost to be EUR 0,205.