# CE2004088EN.01064802.xml

| 8.4.2004 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | CE 88/648 |
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8.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CE 88/648

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(2004/C 88 E/0665)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3396/03

by Roberta Angelilli (UEN) to the Commission

(17 November 2003)

Subject:   Failure to pay compensation to Italian exiles in former Yugoslavia

Subject:

The cultural association ‘Movimento nazionale Istria Fiume Dalmazia’ has for many years now been campaigning for recognition of the rights of the 350 000 Italian exiles who were obliged to leave Yugoslavia for historical reasons that are sufficiently well known.

Two agreements were concluded, at Osimo in 1975 and Rome in 1983, recognising the right to fair compensation of the Italian exiles who had been obliged to abandon their entire property. However, with the break-up of Yugoslavia, the successor states, Slovenia and Croatia, have failed to pay the agreed instalments. According to a recent study by the technical commission set up by Trieste province in cooperation with Rome province and the Trieste city council, the 1983 agreements need to be revised in order to put an end to the exclusion of foreign citizens under the ‘denationalisation’ laws and remove the bureaucratic obstacles to the purchase of property in Slovenia.

Can the Commission state:

| 1. | whether it believes the above-mentioned agreements to be contrary to Articles 44(2)(e), 49 and 56 of the EC Treaty; |
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1.

whether it believes the above-mentioned agreements to be contrary to Articles 44(2)(e), 49 and 56 of the EC Treaty;

| 2. | whether it believes those agreements to be contrary to Article 6 of the Treaty on European Union, which expressly refers to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and, in particular, to Article 14 of that Convention; |
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2.

whether it believes those agreements to be contrary to Article 6 of the Treaty on European Union, which expressly refers to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and, in particular, to Article 14 of that Convention;

| 3. | whether it believes those agreements to be contrary to Articles 17 and 19 of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights. |
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3.

whether it believes those agreements to be contrary to Articles 17 and 19 of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(9 January 2004)

(9 January 2004)

The agreements concluded between Italy and Yugoslavia in 1975 and 1983 are bilateral agreements between two sovereign states concerning property ownership issues. Slovenia has informed the Commission that — as one of the successor states of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) — it has taken over obligations as concerns compensations to be paid under the agreement.

The EC Treaty and the Treaty on the European Union do not prejudice systems of property ownership in the Member States — hence property ownership issues are a matter of national legislation. Hence the principles of the Treaties cannot be applied to property ownership matters.

As concerns the provisions of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, the Charter concerns Union institutions and Member States only when they implement Union legislation. As property ownership regimes are not regulated by Union law, the Charter is not applicable in this area.

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