WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2978/97 by Konstantinos HATZIDAKIS to the Commission. Progress of CSF for Greece
16. 4. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 117/121 (98/C 117/153) WRITTEN QUESTION P-2978/97 by Konstantinos Hatzidakis (PPE) to the Commission (15 September 1997) Subject: Progress of CSF for Greece The CSF for Greece has reached the half-way point of the period of application and is now at a critical stage. Will the Commission give details of the amounts and percentages of the funds earmarked for the CSF so far disbursed 1. in relation to the budget for the whole period of application (1994-1999) 2. in relation to the budget from the beginning of the period up to the present time (September 1997), and 3. in relation to the budget for 1997 alone (appropriations disbursed for the first 8 months of the year compared to the budget for the whole year), both in global terms and with regard to the national and regional sections of the CSF and the Cohesion Fund? Answer given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission (16 October 1997) Payments from the Structural Funds for the Greek Community support framework (1994-97) until end August 1997 were as follows (ECU million): Total paid 1994-99 % 1994-97 % Regional operational programmes National operational programmes 1 764. 8 3 121. 9 TOTAL 4 886. 7 39. 1 33. 4 35. 3 62. 4 56 58. 2 1997 paid 158. 9 323. 7 482. 6 % 21 17. 2 18. 3 Payments from the Cohesion Fund are made in response to applications from the national authorities as the projects being financed progress. By mid-September 1997, the Commission had made payments to Greece totalling ECU 257 million. (98/C 117/154) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2981/97 by Patricia McKenna (V) to the Commission (1 October 1997) Subject: Radioactive pollution from the Sellafield nuclear complex in Britain The New Scientist (10 May 1997) gives details of a study tracking how radioactive pollution from Britainís nuclear complex at Sellafield has spread through the Arctic Ocean into the waters of northern Canada. The study was led by Mike Brewers of the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was prepared for a recent conference on radioactivity in the Arctic in Tromso, Norway. One of the conference organizers, Per Strand of the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority, has estimated that Sellafield has released 40 000 billion becquerels of caesium-137 into the environment. According to him, about 15 000 billion becquerels of that radioisotope have reached the Arctic. This would be two to three times higher than the contamination brought to the Arctic from Chernobyl via the Baltic and North Seas. Has the Commission studied the data compiled on this matter? What action will it take to ensure that the radioactive pollution caused by Sellafield ceases?