EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 88/60

(2004/C 88 E/0065)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2028/03

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(18 June 2003)

Subject: Greek customs authorities' unnecessarily lengthy procedure of collecting up EU citizens' passports at the border with Macedonia, a procedure that is also open to fraud

1. Is the Commission aware that in trains from Greece to Skopje in Macedonia and Belgrade in Serbia the passports of nationals of other EU Member States are collected up shortly after leaving Thessaloniki by a person who is not recognisable as a Greek government official, and passengers are merely told that their passports can be collected later from the police?

2. Is the Commission also aware that at the police station in the Greek border town of Idomeni, where the passports can be collected, nothing whatsoever is done with the passports and they are merely given back after a waiting period?

3. Does the Commission agree with me that maintaining a procedure, which was also in force many years ago at this border, involves the risk of passports being collected by unauthorised persons, or of one or more passports from the large number collected by an authorised person being lost, or of unattended luggage left behind in the train being stolen?

4. Are citizens of EU Member States in fact allowed to hand over their passports to a person who is not recognisable as an authorised official or are they entitled to refuse to do so?

5. What is the point of this procedure other than the fact that requiring passengers to disembark and wait generates customers for the duty-free shops in Idomeni station or that it delays traffic with a neighbouring country whose name is considered undesirable?

6. What action can the EU take to speed up and normalise passports checks at this border, in particular for EU citizens? What is the Commission doing to facilitate a solution?

Supplementary answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(20 April 2004)

As part of its investigation into the circumstances referred to by the Honourable Member in his written question, the Commission contacted the Greek authorities on 30 September 2003 to notify them of the complaint and to ask them to provide the Commission with detailed information on the checks carried out on board trains leaving Greece and entering the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) at the Idomeni border post. Having received no reply to its letter, the Commission sent a reminder to the Greek authorities on 7 January 2004.

In two letters received on 16 and 28 January 2004 respectively the Greek authorities disputed the Honourable Member's version of events and stated that checks at the Idomeni border post and on the train were carried out in accordance with the rules laid down in the Common Manual. The Greek authorities stressed that the checks were carried out on the train in the course of the journey, that all travel documents were checked and that documents were stamped in accordance with the rules (in respect of Community nationals amongst others, point 2.1.1 of the Common Manual states that documents should not be stamped).

In particular, according to the information provided, on both the trains serving this route each day, checks are carried out on board the train by uniformed police officers who check passengers individually and collect travel documents. In addition to these checks by uniformed police officers, another police officer from the same department but in plain clothes is responsible for general inspection and surveillance duties on the train. This officer wears his departmental badge on the outside left pocket of his shirt.

With regard to the complaint, the Greek authorities note that no instance has been reported of a specific request being made to a plain clothes officer carrying out checks to produce his identity.

As regards the conditions in which travel documents are collected, the Greek authorities refer to the less rigorous checks at external borders indicated in the Common Manual for persons travelling in sleeper or couchette compartments. For those persons, the Common Manual states (point 3.2.4) that the documents enabling them to cross the border shall normally be checked by the attendant, provided that he has collected those documents in compliance with the rules applicable to him and that he keeps them available for checks.

As regards the length of checks, the Greek authorities maintain that, as a rule, it does not exceed 30 seconds for Community nationals and one minute for third-country nationals; however, they do not deny the possibility of delays, particularly during the summer, as a result of the significant increase in rail traffic.

On the basis of the clarifications provided by the Greek authorities on the arrangements for checks on the train and in the absence of other specific details on travel arrangements, the Commission does not consider that the Greek authorities have failed to apply the Community rules on checks at external borders correctly in the case referred to by the Honourable Member.