WRITTEN QUESTION No. 399/99 by Phillip WHITEHEAD Fire safety
3. 12. 1999 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 348/61 Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission (20 April 1999) The site the Honourable Member refers to (‘Pieria Ori’) has been proposed by the Greek authorities as a 1. Site of Community Importance (SIC) in accordance with Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and wild fauna and flora (1). The site hosts a number of priority habitats and species and should therefore be automatically included in the Natura 2000 network under the terms of the Directive. Consequently, appropriate measures must be taken by the Member State concerned to ensure that the site does not deteriorate. The Commission will therefore contact the Greek authorities to check whether the impact studies which should be carried out for the project in question, 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), took sufficient account of the natural value of the site concerned. The decision to authorise the activity in question, and its revocation, is the sole responsibility of the 2 Member State. The Commission can only intervene if Community law has clearly been infringed. (1) OJ L 206, 22. 7. 1992. (2) OJ L 175, 5. 7. 1985. (1999/C 348/075) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0399/99 by Phillip Whitehead (PSE) to the Commission (1 March 1999) Subject: Fire safety Will the Commission list the countries which have responded to the study drawn up by the French company CETEN-APAVE relating to the implementation of the 1986 EU recommendations on fire safety? Answer given by Mrs Bonino on behalf of the Commission (16 April 1999) For the part of the 1996 study on fire safety in hotels, which was based on a survey, CETEN ? APAVE had received replies to the questionnaires from eight Member States (Belgium, Greece, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom). (1999/C 348/076) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0404/99 by Gerardo Fernández-Albor (PPE) to the Commission Subject: Measures to prevent counterfeiting of the euro (1 March 1999) In the run-up to the issuing of euro notes and coins, experts on combating counterfeit money believe that an agency should be set up to coordinate the policies of each country and the surveillance systems operated by issuing banks. Mention has even been made of the possibility of creating a European Central Office which would centralise the data provided by each country on this subject. Likewise, the authorities in certain countries of the euro zone take the view that it would be desirable to standardise legislation and penalties applying to euro counterfeiters, thus preventing a situation where committing such crimes would be punished less severely in some countries than in others. Otherwise, criminals are likely to set up clandestine printshops in countries with less stringent laws, even though everyone might be equally affected by the forged currency