WRITTEN QUESTION E-0186/00 by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Unsupervised burial of radioactive materials in Albania and the southern Balkans.
24. 10. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 303 E/155 (2000/C 303 E/170) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0175/00 by Olivier Duhamel (PSE) to the Commission (31 January 2000) Subject: European award When the recent storms devastated part of Western Europe, hundreds of Europeans, civilians and military personnel, came from their countries to the disaster area to offer their skills and energies in an attempt to repair what could be repaired and help the stricken inhabitants. In the light of these exemplary acts of solidarity, the European Union and the Commission in particular might think fit to establish a European award in the form of, say, a European order of merit to confer distinction on citizens or groups of citizens who had worked in one way or another to strengthen cohesion among the peoples of the Union countries or embody European public-spiritedness. Could the Commission, or more specifically its President, say whether it would consider it admissible to institute such an award for courage and solidarity in the service of the Union and, if the award were deemed acceptable, could it swiftly determine how it might be brought into being? Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission (15 March 2000) Although the Commission understands and shares the Honourable Memberís concern, it feels that such action does not fall within its jurisdiction. However, it could be considered when the time comes for the Union to look in depth at the question of civil protection at European level. (2000/C 303 E/171) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0186/00 by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission (31 January 2000) Subject: Unsupervised burial of radioactive materials in Albania and the southern Balkans At a recent meeting in Rome between the Greek Minister of Public Order and the Italian Minister of the Interior (in the presence of their Albanian counterpart), the parties involved expressed concern at the possible pollution of the Adriatic from attempts to bury radioactive materials at uncontrolled sites and discussed means of stamping out the smuggling of radioactive materials and the channelling of these materials to Albania and the southern Balkans. 1. What information does the Commission have concerning the smuggling of radioactive materials in Albania and other Balkan countries? 2. What measures is it taking to limit the pollution of the Adriatic from the uncontrolled dumping of radioactive materials? Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission (14 March 2000) The Commission regularly receives information on cases involving illicit 1. trafficking in nuclear materials and radioactive substances uncovered by the authorities. The Commission is aware of the specific problems relating to the former Yugoslavia and Albania. The Environment DGís Radiation Protection Unit has therefore set up an extensive awareness-raising and training programme with the aim of helping the Balkan states, amongst others, to establish effective measures to combat illicit nuclear traffic. C 303 E/156 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 24. 10. 2000 The Institute of Nuclear Physics, which comes under the aegis of the Albanian Academy of Sciences, has set up two inspection teams in the customs divisions of Durres and Tirana. Their duties involve dealing with illegal trafficking in radioactive waste. 2. The Albanian authorities say that they are unaware of any such pollution in the Adriatic. The negotiating directives for the future stabilisation and association agreement with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) mention increased supervision and inspection of the transport of sensitive products, including radioactive materials, as a potential area for cooperation. (2000/C 303 E/172) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0188/00 by Richard Corbett (PSE) to the Commission (31 January 2000) Subject: Interpretation systems with over twenty languages How far has the Commission progressed in evaluating the feasibility of providing interpretation into over twenty languages at EU meetings after enlargement to include the Central and Eastern European applicant countries? Can it confirm that a significant proportion of interpretation will have to take place through a ápivotí language and relayed through a second interpretation into other languages? If so, has consideration been given to using Esperanto as the pivot language, given that: ü it is neutral and would not thereby give preference to any linguistic group in the EU ü it is a structured and logical language ideally suited to this purpose ü the language can be learnt very quickly? Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission (14 March 2000) The Commission has since 1990 been organising regular selection tests for freelance interpreters with the languages of the Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC). At present, a total of around 200 interpreters have been accredited for all CEEC languages. The Honourable Member is invited to refer to the Commissionís answer to Written Question E-2064/99 by Mr Dupuis (1) of 22 December 1999. Further investments in training have taken place in these countries and 120 bursaries have been provided for students of these languages in 1999 and 2000. This policy is consistent with the respect for cultural and linguistic diversity that is a key element of the European construction. As to interpretation, the Joint interpretation and conference service (JICS) endeavours to ensure that interpretation is direct from one language into any other or, if this is not possible, by relay through not more than one intermediate stage. This intermediate stage or árelayí language varies according to the composition of the team and the languages spoken. Although the proportion of interpretation through the existing relay system will certainly increase, there is no reason why this should evolve into a system with the same relay or ápivotal languagesí being used in all meetings or indeed just a single relay language in any given meeting. Interpreters may be able to choose between several árelayí languages depending on cultural affinities or ánatural relaysí based on languages from the same language families