Rural areas are characterised by a very large diversity of situations, ranging from remote rural areas suffering from depopulation and decline to peri-urban areas under increasing pressure from urban centres.

The dissuasive elements of budgetary coordination which centre on the use of peer pressure as a sanction mechanism, supported by the ultimate threat of financial penalties, is a key part of the EU fiscal framework.

In particular, the French scheme offers fiscal benefits to the Headquarters and Logistic Centres or to the multinational groups to which they belong, by reducing their normal tax burden.

The programme aims at giving an adequate description of those aspects of human activities which affect the environment: - either negatively by the pressure exerted on the environment and on natural resources, - or positively by the technical or economic measures taken by society to reduce these pressures and their effects and improve the condition of the environment.

Ms. Madeleine Dalphond-Guiral (Laval Centre, BQ): Mr. Speaker, there is a growing international momentum to convince Canada to put pressure on Zimbabwe immediately, without waiting for the March 9 and 10 election.

The European Commission has therefore proposed a series of measures which will allow the European network to cope with increasing pressure: - creation of a centralized air flow management system to coordinate the existing independent units - technical harmonisation to improve communication, technical compatibility and training - efforts by member states to allow some of the airspace reserved for military purposes to be made available for civilian use - Community coordination of airport infrastructure planning with possibility of Community financial support and a better dialogue between airports and their users - research into the develop ...[+++]ment of a fully integrated and automated system for air traffic management throughout European air space Improving the traffic flow A centralised air traffic management system for European airspace is essential, in the view of the Commission, since the present network of national air traffic control centres is ill-suited to managing the growing volume of traffic.