WRITTEN QUESTION No. 816/98 by José SALAFRANCA SÁNCHEZ- NEYRA to the Commission. Application by Cuba to accede to the ACP-EU Convention
19. 11. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 354/27 constituent and all other occupants of his áurbanisationí find unacceptable. All reasonable attempts to resolve this problem locally have been thwarted. Whilst the smells are not a health risk, would the Commission investigate why the suggestion of a covered operation at the plant will not be considered? Such an undertaking would at least alleviate the obnoxious smells that emanate from this plant. Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission (30 April 1998) Council Directive 91/271/EEC of 21 May 1991 concerning urban waste-water treatment (1) places an obligation on the Member States to ensure that all urban areas with a ápopulation equivalentí (a measurement unit corresponding to the organic load produced per person per day) of over 2 000 are equipped with systems for collecting and treating urban waste water. In the case of San Juan de los Terreros, Pulpi, Almeria (Spain) which, according to the information received from the local authorities, has a population equivalent of slightly under 15 000, with large seasonal variations, the time limit for installing these systems is 31 December 2005. According to the information supplied to the Commission, a secondary (i. e. biological) sewage treatment plant was set up in this town, as required by the Directive, in 1995. In accordance with Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment (2), an environmental impact assessment was conducted on this treatment plant at the planning stage in 1992. In this context, it must be remembered that, under the same Directive, it was up to the Member State to decide whether the environmental impact of the project would be significant enough to require such an assessment. In this case it decided that it would be. As regards the smells from the sewage treatment plant, the local authorities have established a series of peat beds to treat these emissions and plan to add more to provide further alleviation. (1) OJ L 135, 30. 5. 1991. (2) OJ L 175, 5. 7. 1985. (98/C 354/57) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0816/98 by Jose· Salafranca Sa·nchez-Neyra (PPE) to the Commission (26 March 1998) Subject: Application by Cuba to accede to the ACP-EU Convention Bearing in mind that Cuba is the only Latin American country that is not linked to the European Union by a cooperation agreement, can the Commission say whether an application has been made by the Cuban authorities to accede to the ACP-EU Convention? If so, and bearing in mind that this would involve a change of attitude in relations between the European Union and Cuba, could the Commission explain what its response to this application has been? What are the terms in which the Commission has commented or will be commenting on this interesting initiative? Answer given by Mr Marin on behalf of the Commission (27 April 1998) The Commission would refer the Honourable Member to its answer to written question E-832/98 by Mr Cabezo·n Alonso (1). (1) OJ C 310, 9. 10. 1998, p. 136