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Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy
2003/2225(INI)
20 January 2004
OPINION
of the Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy
for the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy
on a proposal for a European Parliament recommendation to the Council on EU policy towards the South Caucasus (2003/2225(INI))
Draftswoman : Godelieve Quisthoudt-Rowohl
AD\520983EN.doc PE 337.419 EN EN PA_NonLeg
PE 337.419 2/5 AD\520983EN.doc EN PROCEDURE
The Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy appointed Godelieve Quisthoudt-Rowohl draftswoman at its meeting of 4 November 2003.
It considered the draft opinion at its meetings of 1 December 2003 and 20 January 2004 .
At the last meeting it adopted the following suggestions unanimously.
The following were present for the vote: Luis Berenguer Fuster (chairman), Peter Michael Mombaur (vice-chairman and acting Draftsman), Jaime Valdivielso de Cué (vice-chairman), María del Pilar Ayuso González (for Concepció Ferrer), Ward Beysen (for Marco Cappato), Guido Bodrato, Felipe Camisón Asensio (Dominique Vlasto), Gérard Caudron, Giles Bryan Chichester, Willy C.E.H. De Clercq, Francesco Fiori (for Umberto Scapagnini), Norbert Glante, Michel Hansenne, Malcolm Harbour (for Sir Robert Atkins), Roger Helmer (for Bashir Khanbhai), Hans Karlsson, Bernd Lange (for Mechtild Rothe), Werner Langen, Peter Liese (for Elizabeth Montfort), Rolf Linkohr, Caroline Lucas, Erika Mann, Hans-Peter Martin (for Imelda Mary Read), Marjo Matikainen-Kallström, Eryl Margaret McNally, Joaquim Miranda, Angelika Niebler, Reino Paasilinna, Paolo Pastorelli, Elly Plooij-van Gorsel, John Purvis, Bernhard Rapkay (for Gary Titley), Christian Foldberg Rovsing, Paul Rübig, Konrad K. Schwaiger, Esko Olavi Seppänen, W.G. van Velzen, Alejo Vidal-Quadras Roca and Myrsini Zorba.
AD\520983EN.doc 3/5 PE 337.419 EN SUGGESTIONS
The Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy calls on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions in its motion for a resolution:
A. whereas the Medzamor nuclear power plant is situated in an earthquake risk-zone and was already almost destroyed by an earthquake in 1989,
B. whereas EU policy should help the countries of the South Caucasus in their development; whereas cooperation in the fields of research, technology and industry, in particular, should help those countries to apply state-of-the-art technology and not repeat the industrialised countries' old mistakes,
1. Calls on the Commission to work within the Tacis programme towards the development and implementation of an alternative energy plan for Armenia so that the Medzamor nuclear power plant can be decommissioned as quickly as possible;
2. Calls on the Commission to draw up a coherent up-to-date action programme for the South Caucasus in the areas of political, economic, social, and cultural relations;
3. Stresses that the flexible mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol could help the countries of the South Caucasus to invest and modernise;
4. Calls on the European Investment Bank also to grant loans to the countries of the South Caucasus, e.g. in support of support small and medium-sized businesses or, in the area of infrastructure, for energy and water supplies;
5. Calls on the Commission to use the programmes available to improve supplies of energy and drinking water;
6. Stresses the importance of the construction of the combined oil and gas pipeline planned for Baku-Tiflis-Ceyhan for supplies to that area and for the protection of the marine environment of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean that it will provide by making sea transport unnecessary; points out, however, that particular account must be taken of security and anti-terrorism measures in constructing the pipeline;
7. Calls on the Commission and the Member States, as regards the transport of oil, to use their influence to ensure that no single-hull tankers leave Caspian and Black Sea ports to sail in those waters and, as regards the amendment to the MARPOL Convention adopted in December 2003, which lays down a transitional period up to 2010, to tighten up the provisions still further, which could be achieved if, for example, the Member States were to request the IMO to declare the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea particularly sensitive areas;
8. Stresses that the reform of the financial protocols should not result in failure to supply urgently needed aid and support;
9. Calls on the Commission to assist the countries of the region to develop research networks and promote exchanges of students and researchers;
PE 337.419 4/5 AD\520983EN.doc EN 10. Endorses the idea of negotiating free-trade agreements with the countries of the South Caucasus once the partnership agreements have been fully implemented.
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