WRITTEN QUESTION E-3365/01

by Luciano Caveri (ELDR) to the Commission

(6 December 2001)

Subject: Regional laws applicable within the Valle d'Aosta

On 13 October 2000 the Valle d'Aosta experienced terrible flooding which did a devastating amount of damage. The regional government adopted a number of measures on the basis of the powers granted to it

pursuant to the region's special autonomous status, including (approximately a year ago) measures applicable to the agriculture sector. An appropriate draft law was forwarded to the Commission's Directorate-General for Agriculture, since when a number of requests for documents and information have been received via Italy's permanent representation, such as a request for maps of the flooded areas and of sediment measurements almost as though the flood was suspected of being a fabrication. Reading the correspondence provokes feelings of bewilderment and frustration, since the Commission's requests seem to lack an awareness of the fact that any compensation to be paid to farmers in respect of flood damage must necessarily be made available promptly. It seems incredible that the request has recently been transferred to the register of unnotified aid because the Italian Government's Civil Defence Order No. 3090 of 2000 was not notified to Brussels. It is quite obvious from a reading of the draft regional law that there is no link between it and the Order.

Are the delays which have built up therefore justifiable? Despite what it says in the Treaties, should priority not be given to natural disasters? Should an entirely transparent emergency procedure not be devised as a matter of urgency?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(21 January 2002)

The Commission is aware of the difficulties experienced in Valle d'Aosta following the flooding that occurred on 13 October 2000.

As the Honourable Member says, Italy notified measures proposed by the regional authorities for granting compensation to farmers. However, the Commission has established, from the additional information about the plan provided by the Italian authorities, that aid had been granted to the flood victims already and that its main aim was to give a fresh boost to productive activities, in other words, to farming as well as other activities.

In view of the fact that the Order introducing the aid has not been notified and since the Commission is required to verify whether the aid granted to the farmers concerned did not represent overcompensation for the damage suffered, the Commission was obliged to transfer the file comprising the whole range of aids to the register of unnotified aids.

The Honourable Member's attention is drawn to the fact that under Article 13(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 659/1999 of 22 March 1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Article 93 of the EC Treaty(1), the two-month period for the examination of State aids which have been notified does not apply where an aid has not been notified.

That being so, the Commission can provide assurances that the matter of Valle d'Aosta will be dealt with at the earliest opportunity.

On the particular issue of the sediment measurements referred to in the question, the Commission did not request documents of this kind. As one of the measures contemplated by the regional authorities following the flooding was likely to create environmental problems by increasing the density of livestock on certain types of land, the Commission simply asked for an assessment of the impact the presence of such animals would have on the land in question.

(1) OJ L 83, 27.3.1999.