WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1975/97 by Alexandros ALAVANOS to the Commission. Usefulness and effectiveness of the Lingua Programme
C 45/134 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 10. 2. 98 (98/C 45/172) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1975/97 by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission (9 June 1997) Subject: Usefulness and effectiveness of the Lingua Programme The 18th High School in Athens made a visit to the Instituto de Bachillerato Jorge Juaní in Alicante, Spain, as part of the Lingua Programme. Despite thorough preparation by the Athens school (talks › videos › art exhibition etc. ), the visit was a failure and the pupils were utterly disappointed because the Jorge Juan school authorities were not well informed about the exchange programme, the Greek pupils were unable to take part in classes and there was a total absence of Spanish pupils. Is the Commission aware of this particular case and what is its assessment of the usefulness and effectiveness in general of the educational exchanges under the Socrates programme, which should operate as a genuine rather than superficial European educational programme? Answer given by Mrs Cresson on behalf of the Commission (17 July 1997) Lingua action E (joint educational projects for language learning) of the Socrates programme is a decentralised action. Decisions regarding allocations of grants are taken by the national agencies appointed in the Member States, within the available budget. The selection criteria are laid down at a European level, and they may be complemented by national priorities. The situation described by the Honourable Member does not reflect the normal operation of a project. The Commission will investigate the situation with the national agency. (98/C 45/173) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1976/97 by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission (9 June 1997) Subject: Risk to Hadrianís Aqueduct from construction of an artificial lake ICOMOS (the International Council of Monuments and Sites › technical adviser to UNESCO) and numerous civic organizations claim that Hadrianís Aqueduct in Nea Ionia, a few kilometres from the centre of Athens, is in danger of being destroyed because of a decision to build a 700m2 artificial lake, a cafe and other projects on the foundations of the aqueduct in breach of the rules on reafforestation and building in the area. Some of the work was previously suspended after the intervention of the Directorate for Restoration but construction of the artificial lake recently started at the very foot of the monumentís main support columns, making it even more likely to collapse. In view of the fact that the project forms part of the national section of the environment operational programme under the second Community Support Framework, will the Commission say: 1. whether environmental studies have been carried out for the works in question, and 2. whether it intends to take measures to save the monument and, if so, what those measures are? Answer given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission (17 July 1997) The project to rehabilitate the Hadrian’s Aqueduct and Giambourla dry stream bed area in the municipality of Nea Ionia (Athens) is part of the Environment operational programme under the 1994/99 Community support framework for Greece. Its budget is ECU 700 000 (DRA 200 million) and so far DRA 80 million has been declared as spent