Forests: protection against fire (amend. Regulation (EEC) No 2158/92)

The Council has approved the substance of the Commission proposals but made a number of amendments. The majority of the amendments are based on amendments by the European Parliament, particularly in the recitals which refer to the general role of forests in ecosystems, and the role of Mediterranean forests in halting the progress or desertification, to the consequences of forest damage, to attainment of the objectives in Article 33(1)(b) of the treaty and to the pan-European Ministerial Conference in Lisbon. With regard to budget financing, the Council has taken as funding available the figure for the 2001 budget adopted jointly with the Parliament. The articles on committee procedure were inserted by the Council to take account of the new Decision 1999/468/EC on committee procedure, without entailing any substantive changes. An Article and a recital on the effects of the annulled Regulations had to be added in order to ensure legal certainty.�