Four years ago, in May 2000, the UK nuclear submarine HMS Tireless suffered a serious failure with the cooling system of its nuclear reactor. As a result of a serious defect in the welding between two coolant containers, radioactive liquid leaked away into the Mediterranean and, more particularly, into the Sicilian-Maltese channel where the submarine was positioned at that time. Nothing of this was revealed until the end of 2000, when the Tireless arrived in Gibraltar harbour for repair in the Royal Navy dockyard. Despite the protests of local and regional institutions, it remained there for many weeks. The European Parliament debated the issue in plenary on 14 December 2000 and adopted a resolution in which it called upon the Commission to inform Parliament of the answers given by the UK Government to the Commission's request for information - legally required under several Euratom directives - about the incident and its impact. Since then, the issue has not been discussed. The UK authorities have continued to state that it only a minor incident was involved, with no harmful effects, and no further information has been disclosed. However, independent investigations at the end of 2004 suggest that the incident might have been far more serious than admitted by the authorities and that large quantities of radioactive liquid were released into the sea at the time of the incident.

1. Was the Council informed by the UK Government as to the precise location where the incident took place, how much radioactivity was leaked, and at what distance the emissions occurred?

2. What measures did the Council take to prevent the potentially catastrophic impact of this incident?

3. As these waters continue to be used for the passage of nuclear submarines, how sure can the Council be that similar incidents will not recur?

4. Would the Council agree that, in the light of the European Security Strategy, it would be wise for nuclear powers, both EU Member States and the USA, to stop using the Mediterranean and other narrow waters as a route for this type of vessels?

5. Is the Council aware that the UK has been storing nuclear weapons or materials in Cyprus (Akrotiri)

6. Which other bases in the region have been used for the storage of similar materials?