WRITTEN QUESTION E-1243/00 by Giuseppe Di Lello Finuoli (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Contract awarded by the municipality of Messina for the construction of a tramway funded by the European Union.
C 72 E/30 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 6. 3. 2001 Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission (17 July 2000) The Commission answers all written questions as quickly and as fully as it can, and devotes considerable resources to doing so. It has given 2064 answers to written questions this year, in an average reply time of 6 weeks and 1 day. The Commission aims to answer within the deadlines identified by the Parliament (priority questions 3 weeks, other questions 6 weeks) and succeeds in many cases. In 1999 and this year the Commission answered 20 questions from the Honourable Member, of which 12 inside the time allowed by the Parliament. The longest reply time to the Honourable Member was 8 weeks and 2 days. The Commission is not sure exactly to which questions the Honourable Member is referring, and is not aware that any written questions regarding Mr Van Buitenenís allegations remained unanswered at the time the Honourable Member asked his question, or remain unanswered now. The Commission has identified six written questions asked on this subject this year preceding the Honourable Memberís question and forwards to the Honourable Member and to Parliamentís Secretariat general copies of these questions and answers, from which it can be seen that half of them were answered inside the deadlines identified by the Parliament. (2001/C 72 E/033) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1240/00 by Brigitte Langenhagen (PPE-DE) to the Commission (14 April 2000) Subject: Situation of the cormorant Phalacrocorax (carbo carbo) in Directive 79/409 The EU Directive 79/409/EEC (1) on the conservation of wild birds included the species Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis among those whose habitat is protected by Annex I. In July 1997 the Commission Directive 97/49/EEC (2) amended Annex I of the Directive 79/409/EEC and the cormorant P. Carbo sinensis was deleted from the list. Is the Commission planning to delete from Annex I of Directive 79/409/EEC also the cormorant P. carbo carbo? (1) OJ L 103, 25. 4. 1979, p. 1. (2) OJ L 223, 13. 8. 1997, p. 9. Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission (5 June 2000) The sub-species of Cormorant ü Phalacrocorax carbo carbo ü is not, and never was, listed in Annex I of Council Directive 79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the conservation of wild birds. Therefore, the question from the Honourable Member is not applicable. (2001/C 72 E/034) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1243/00 by Giuseppe Di Lello Finuoli (GUE/NGL) to the Commission (14 April 2000) Subject: Contract awarded by the municipality of Messina for the construction of a tramway funded by the European Union The municipality of Messina (Italy) has contracted out the construction of a tramway to be financed with European funding worth Lit 148 billion. There has already been a considerable delay in the envisaged timetable for the work and substantial environmental damage has been and is continuing to be done. For example, more than 3000 trees have been uprooted. 6. 3. 2001 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 72 E/31 The project was drawn up and financed without an environmental impact assessment and phases of the project have allegedly been paid for without the prescribed checks being carried out. Can the Commission give details of the whole process of granting funding for this project, in particular the checks carried out when phases of the project are paid for, and specify what amounts are involved? Answer by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission (6 June 2000) The multifund operational programme for Sicily for the 1994-1999 programme period includes (measure 3,5) aid for urban rail transport projects. The Region of Sicily applied for proposed part-financing of a tramway at Messina (Gazzi-Annunziata route). The project is at present under examination by the Commission, which recently asked the regional authorities for additional information covering the aspects of the environmental impact assessment to which the Honourable Member refers. Following its examination the Commission will decide on financing of the project. (2001/C 72 E/035) WRITTEN QUESTION P-1247/00 by Pasqualina Napoletano (PSE) to the Commission (11 April 2000) Subject: Abduction of Somali children from the Italian families charged with their custody In recent years there have been numerous cases of children, mainly of Somalian nationality, who had been entrusted to the custody of Italian families being abducted by their (real or alleged) áparentsí and illegally taken to other countries (including various European Union countries). In some cases it has proved possible to trace the children concerned, but the families to whom they had previously been entrusted encountered considerable problems in seeking to ensure that the rights of such children were protected by the judicial authorities of some Member States of the Union. There is reason to believe that, in many cases, these minors were not abducted by their real parents but by third parties intent on exploiting them for financial gain. In particular, many problems have arisen as a result of the fact that in some cases the provisions of the Convention of The Hague on international child abduction have not been fully applied in practice, which has caused difficulties in ascertaining how children are being treated and whether they are in good health, and in exercising the right to visit the children and ensuring that minors are repatriated, as laid down by the Convention. This is due to the tendency of the judicial authorities in some signatory states to consider the merits of the original custody proceedings, in flagrant breach of the spirit of the Convention, which limits the requirement to review the merits of custody arrangements to a few special cases only. In view of the foregoing: ü Would the Commission state what measures the Union institutions intend to adopt to ensure effective judicial cooperation with regard to the custody and international abduction of children? ü What measures do the Union institutions intend to adopt to ensure harmonisation of the Member Statesí rules on recognition of child custody arrangements? ü What measures do the Union institutions intend to adopt to ensure that existing international agreements (including the Convention of the Hague) are fully and effectively applied by the Member Statesí authorities?