WRITTEN QUESTION E-0832/04 by Anne Ferreira (PSE), Ioannis Souladakis (PSE)and Catherine Stihler (PSE) to the Commission. Theatrical signers and audience members with hearing difficulties.
Date: 2004-03-15
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: action programme, cultural event, facilities for people with disabilities, information profession, integration of people with disabilities

3.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 84 E/889

(2004/C 84 E/0982)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0831/04

by Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(15 March 2004)

Subject: Radar installation on Pico do Areeiro (cid:1) Environmental impact study

In the answer given on 5 March 2003 to my Written Question E-0157/03 (1) on the continuing use of
Pico do Areeiro (Madeira) as a radar installation site, Mrs Wallström indicated that she would await the
environmental impact study, to be carried out at the request of the Portuguese authorities, before stating
an opinion.

According to reports in Portugal an environmental impact study has apparently already been produced.

What, therefore, is the Commission’s view on the study?

(1) OJ C 242 E, 9.10.2003, p. 101.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(30 April 2004)

The Commission can inform the Honourable Member that it has examined the environmental impact
study for the radar project in question on the site of Community importance ‘Maciço Montanhoso Central’
and the special protection zone ‘Maciço Montanhoso Oriental da Ilha da Madeira’, which includes a nesting
site used by Pterodroma madeira.

According to the study, the main impact of the project will be the effects of the radar illumination on the
birds’ orientation. However, the study found that if certain measures were taken, such as reducing the
strength of the beam and directing the beam towards the ground, the impact would be minimised.
The study also found that both the nesting site and the flight corridors used by the birds were situated
outside the radiation zone.

As an environmental
impact study has been carried out for the project and has not indicated any
significant impact on the abovementioned protected species, the Commission does not consider that the
situation contravenes the relevant provisions of Community law and has therefore decided to close
complaint 2002/5069 on the project in question.

(2004/C 84 E/0983)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0832/04

by Anne Ferreira (PSE), Ioannis Souladakis (PSE)
and Catherine Stihler (PSE) to the Commission

(15 March 2004)

Subject: Theatrical signers and audience members with hearing difficulties

Theatre performances may be translated for audience members with hearing problems by a signer.
The option of having a signer present usually depends on the initiative of either the theatre, the theatre
company, or specific arrangements requested by an audience with hearing difficulties. As a result, people
with hearing difficulties are excluded from many cultural activities across the European Union. In addition,
today, there are few trained theatrical signers.

What, if any, initiatives is the Commission taking to ensure that people with hearing difficulties might
participate in cultural activities? What support does the Commission offer towards the training of theatrical
signers?

C 84 E/890

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.4.2004

Answer given by Mr Dimas on behalf of the Commission

(29 April 2004)

The issue mentioned by the Honourable Member is generally an area of competence of the Member States.
It is not the responsibility or within the competences of the Commission to recognise any language. The
fact of the matter is that sign language varies across Member States and regions. Thus, recognition of any
sign language is the responsibility of each Member State, and the Commission notes that a number of
Member States have indeed recognised certain individual sign languages as official languages at national
level.

However, the Commission is very sensitive to the needs of people for whom sign language is their first
language and within a number of EU action programmes, such as the Lingua programme, the Commission
has made grants available for projects which promote the teaching and learning of sign languages. All the
EU events organised within the framework of the European Year of People with Disabilities 2003 included
interpretation in sign languages as well as spoken languages. For example, the Joint Research Centre (JRC)
organised a conference entitled ‘eAccessibility by voice’, which was entirely subtitled through the use of
stenotypists, and in part, automatically, subtitled through the prototype voice recognition technology
developed by the JRC.

It is also important to recognise that it is necessary to be able to respond to the needs of a variety of
different people, and in particular for those who are deaf or hard of hearing for whom sign language is not
their first language. For this reason, the Commission tries to ensure easy access to written documents and
for example tries, where feasible, to provide velotype or hearing loops at conferences. However, within the
various framework programmes for research and technological development,
the Commission has
maintained a particular priority for research projects which help to improve the quality of life for people
with disabilities. Other examples of Commission action include its collaboration with the European
Broadcasting Union and the Cenelec standard setting committee to bring advances in the area of the
development and harmonisation of subtitling and also on the use of voice recognition to generate
subtitling for conferences and television broadcasts. An interesting activity in this context is the VOICE
project (http://voice.jrc.it/) of the Joint Research Centre. Moreover, the VOICE project has contributed to
technological research and development through developing a ‘design for all’ approach based on subtitling,
suitable for both able and disabled people. In this sense, subtitling could be an apt choice, worthwhile
exploring further, for enhancing the participation of persons with hearing disabilities in cultural activities.
The European Social Fund (ESF) is the main Community financial instrument in support of Member States
policies in the fields of education, training and employment, with a global allocation of EUR 62,5 billion
for the period 2000-2006 (EU15).

Training of theatrical signers can be supported in the framework of ESF co-funded programmes managed
and implemented by national and regional authorities.

The outcomes of all these different actions can help to address the challenges related to deafness and
hearing loss, and to boost the accessibility of a wide range of goods, services and possibly cultural activities
to the benefit of all society.

(2004/C 84 E/0984)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0834/04

by Olivier Dupuis (NI) to the Commission

(15 March 2004)

Subject: Nine years’ imprisonment for supplying 0,5 grams of methadone in Russia

In 2003, the Moscow journalist Ulyana Belozerova, aged 32, was sentenced under Article 228(4) of the
Criminal Code of the Russian Federation to nine years’ imprisonment in a high-security penal colony. She
was alleged to have sold 0,5 grams of methadone. The accusation against her was based solely on the
testimony of a young drug addict who claimed that Mrs Belozerova had placed a package containing the
substance concerned in a sandpit at a kindergarten, thereby indicating her intention to sell it. The public
prosecutor stressed that, because Mrs Belozerova had intended to pass on a dose of the substance in