WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2693/98 by Iñigo MÉNDEZ DE VIGO to the Commission. Papua New Guinea, hit by an earthquake measuring 7 on the Richter scale
C 96/136 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 8. 4. 1999 (1999/C 96/194) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2686/98 by Gerhard Hager (NI) to the Commission (1 September 1998) Subject: Drugs strategy The Cardiff Summit adopted a report on operations to combat drug abuse, including a drugs strategy for 1999 and subsequent years, and the Council and Commission were called upon to devise a blueprint for further action. 1. How will the current Presidency answer the above call? 2. What specific proposals does it intend to submit, and what progress has it already made in drawing them up? An international conference on drugs will take place in Vienna on 5 and 6 November 1998. Who will 3. represent the Union at the conference? 4. What attitude will the representatives take? 5. How will policy be worked out, and what role will Parliament play in that procedure? Answer given by Mrs Gradin on behalf of the Commission (14 October 1998) The Commission is in the process of preparing a communication to the Council and the Parliament on a Union action plan to combat drugs for the years 2000-2004, as a follow-up to the Cardiff European Council conclusion. Preparatory work is building on the key elements for a post 1999 drugs strategy which were endorsed at Cardiff. The conference on ádrug prevention and drug policyí which will be organised on 5-6 November 1998 in Vienna will be the flagship event of the European drug prevention week (16-22 November 1998). Organised by the city of Vienna in co-operation with the Commission and the United nations international drug control programme, the conference will mainly focus on the future challenge of an integrated and interdisciplinary drug prevention policy. The conference will be able to count on a very broad range of expertise. The Commission and the Parliament will in particular be represented. The Parliament is invited to chair one of the sessions. As far as the participants from the Commission are concerned, they will mainly present current activities, in particular the Community action programme on the prevention of drug dependence, 1996-2000 (decision 102/97/ EC of the Parliament and the Council) (1) which identifies the European drug prevention week as one of its 16 priorities. (1) OJ L 19, 22. 1. 1997. (1999/C 96/195) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2693/98 by Iæigo MØndez de Vigo (PPE) to the Commission (1 September 1998) Subject: Papua New Guinea, hit by an earthquake measuring 7 on the Richter scale The tidal wave which struck the northwest coast of Papua New Guinea killed thousands of people, many of them children. The waves, some of them 10 metres high, flattened completely a 30 kilometre stretch of coastline, wiping out several villages. Is the Commission aware of the gravity of the situation? Has it undertaken an emergency humanitarian relief operation of any kind? If not, has it formulated a strategy to provide relief to the areas hit by the tidal wave?