ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
WRITTEN QUESTION E-1524/97 by Cristiana Muscardini (NI) to the Commission (5 May 1997)

Subject: Freedom of movement in the EEA

The statute for seasonal workers within the EEA, which applies in Liechenstein, for example, to around 350 Italian citizens who work there for 11 months a year, is penalizing those workers in an inhuman and uncivilized way, marginalizing them, separating them from their families and children, leaving them with no social security protection and denying them their sacrosanct rights such as the granting of family allowances,

pensions, social security, unemployment and invalidity benefits and school attendance. Permits, which were hitherto granted on a staggered basis, were recently changed from nine months to four months, followed by a break. This means that, even if a seasonal worker works for 11 months a year like any other citizen, he or she can never accrue entitlements, not even for his or her family. In short, this is a real scandal taking place in the heart of Europe.

1. Is the Commission prepared to allow such a situation to continue?

2. Does it not believe that, alongside freedom of movement for capital, goods and services, it is even more important to allow freedom of movement for persons in the countries making up the EEA?

3. Does it not consider it desirable and politically appropriate to request that the statute for seasonal workers in the EEA be abolished by revising the EU/EEA Agreement so as to allow for the free movement of persons as provided for in Protocol 15?

Answer given by Mr Van den Broek on behalf of the Commission (11 June 1997)

The Agreement on the European economic area (EEA) covers all the four freedoms of the single market, including the free movement of people. The derogations in the field of free movement of people concerning Liechtenstein are laid down in Protocol 15 of the EEA Agreement. These derogations are temporary and valid only during a transitional period ending on 1 January 1998. At the end of the transitional period, the transitional measures will be jointly reviewed by the contracting parties, duly taking into account the specific geographic situation of Liechtenstein. The Commission is already engaged in a dialogue with the Liechtenstein authorities to make sure that the necessary measures to end the transitional period will be taken by the due date and that the Community acquis in the field of free movement of people will enter into force in Liechtenstein on the 1 January 1998.
WRITTEN QUESTION E-0650/97 by Carlos Robles Piquer (PPE) to the Commission (6 March 1997)

Subject: Illegal immigration via Italy

Mr Tamas Kiss, a senior official at the International Centre for Migration Policy Development, an intergovernmental organization based in Vienna, recently stated that 'Italy is one of the favourite countries of destination for illegals who want to get into the European Union' (International Herald Tribune, Paris, 11 February 1997). The reporter, Celestine Bohlen, added that 'a major problem is the lack of coordination among the Italian coastal services', of which there are at least four.

Given that this affects the whole Union, can the Commission confirm these statements and say how it will intervene to put a stop to these illegal activities?

Answer given by Mrs Gradin on behalf of the Commission (18 April 1997)

As part of the work carried out under Title VI of the Treaty on European Union, the Commission is kept regularly informed of the position regarding clandestine immigration into the Member States. In this respect, although the geographical position of some Member States such as Italy can of course make them more susceptible to clandestine immigration, it is in fact a phenomenon affecting all Member States.

The work of combating illegal immigration relies mainly on control at the external borders. Differences of views between certain Member States have as yet prevented the text of the draft convention on external frontiers ((Commission proposal for a decision, based on Article K.3 of the Treaty on European Union, establishing the Convention on control of persons crossing the external frontiers of the MemberStates (OJ C 11, 15.1.1994). )) from being adopted.

It must be said however that, even if the Convention were in force, the organization and coordination of the departments responsible for immigration control would continue to be a matter for the internal authorities of the Member States and, therefore, in the case in point, the relevant Italian authorities.

Moreover, since 1996, the Commission has been implementing Community-funded programmes to promote cooperation between the administrative bodies of the Member States, thanks to which training is being developed and immigration officials in the Member States are becoming more acquainted with the methods and procedures followed by their counterparts in other Member States, resulting in an enhancement of the national departments' ability to deal with the problems raised by the Honourable Member.
WRITTEN QUESTION E-1337/97 by Daniel Varela Suanzes-Carpegna (PPE) to the Commission (21 April 1997)

Subject: Observation and monitoring measures during the Atlantic bonito fishing season

Is the Commission currently preparing to charter a vessel in order once again to observe and monitor the Atlantic bonito fishing season this year?

Can the Commission provide me with details of its plan for monitoring and observing the bonito season in the Atlantic this year, and the cost thereof?

Answer given by Mrs Bonino on behalf of the Commission (22 May 1997)

Given the increased commitment in terms of deployment of resources to inspection and surveillance of fishing vessels using drift nets and increased levels of compliance with applicable measures, the Commission will not charter a control vessel for inspectors of the Member States and of the Commission during the tuna campaign in 1997.

During the tuna season to come, the Commission will deploy its resources on control vessels of the Member States in order to verify whether the Member States involved in the tuna driftnet fishery fulfil their control and monitoring obligations. As far as the tuna campaign in the Atlantic is concerned, the Commission will meet the Member States concerned in May to agree upon the early implementation of a common coordinated approach towards control in the Atlantic in 1997. The Commission plans to deploy at least two teams consisting of two Commission inspectors each in different areas throughout the season verifying controls at sea and ashore according to the presence of driftnet vessels. The estimated costs of the tuna campaign in the Atlantic to be borne by the Commission will be around ECU 70 000.

The Commission attaches great importance to the fact that all the Member States involved in the driftnet fishery coordinate their inspections both amongst themselves and with the Commission, and that they fully deploy their own means of inspection so as to enhance the overall efficacy of control in the field of driftnet fishery.
WRITTEN QUESTION E-0233/97 by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Council (13 February 1997)

Subject: Freedoms and property rights of Greek Cypriots in the occupied part of Cyprus

The European Court of Human Rights has condemned Turkey for violating the property rights of Titina Loizidou, a Greek Cypriot who has been denied all access to her property in the occupied northern part of Cyprus since the Turkish invasion of 1974. The Court also rejected claims put forward by Turkey that the Convention on Human Rights in Europe did not apply in the case of the Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus because it (i.e. Turkey) had not yet approved the entry into force of the Convention.

In the light of the Court's decision, will the Council say whether it intends to exert pressure:

1. to secure the implementation of the Court's decision in the case of Titina Loizidou and in any similar case in which property rights have been violated by the occupying forces;

2. to enable Eleni Foka to teach in the occupied territories and to enjoy free access to the free part of Cyprus;

3. to secure the replacement of another Greek teacher who was teaching in Karpasia until recently when he retired and whom the Turkish authorities have refused to replace;

4. to enable the children of Karpasia to have free access to the textbooks and other teaching material which the Republic of Cyprus sends them (history and divinity books never reach their destination)?

Answer (4 July 1997)

The Council is concerned about human rights violations in Cyprus and regrets the violations reported by the Honourable Member. However, the Council has no competence in the supervision of judgements rendered by the European Court of Human Rights.

The Council emphasizes that, within its scope of competence, it spares no effort towards a just and viable political settlement in Cyprus. The Council is convinced that such a solution will be the most effective way to render human rights violations in Cyprus a thing of the past.

As far as the problem of the enclaved persons is concerned, there has been no further progress on the implementation of the recommendation arising out of the humanitarian review undertaken by UNFICYP in 1995. The Council has taken due note of the European Parliament's Resolution No B4-0286/97 and follows with the utmost attention the efforts made by the UN to ameliorate the living conditions of the enclaved persons and to restore their fundamental rights.

The Council would also like to point out that the current Financial Protocol signed in June 1995 aims at supporting efforts to promote a comprehensive settlement to the Cyprus question. An amount of 12 MECU has been made for potential initiatives agreed jointly with Cyprus for projects promoting confidence building measures. It is foreseen that additional funds could be made available for the financing of programmes and projects to promote development of the whole island.
WRITTEN QUESTION P-1512/97 by Richard Howitt (PSE) to the Commission (30 April 1997)

Subject: Access to information

As a result of the seminar in April 1996 organized by the European Blind Union on access to information co-funded by DG X of the EC, a report was issued with recommendations to make information and services provided by the EC more accessible. One priority was the information campaigns organized by the EC regarding citizens' rights, the Euro and Intergovernmental Conference.

Attempts to discuss the recommendations and an action plan with DG X, to ensure that information provided by those campaigns is available for blind and partially sighted people, were not successful.

What is the present status of information campaigns? Have any steps been taken to incorporate the needs of blind and partially sighted people in the information provision? Will the EC comment on EBU's recommendations for improving access to their information and services, which were presented to the Commission in 1996? Will the EC hold meetings with EBU representatives to consider appropriate action in the area of access to information by blind and partially sighted citizens?

Answer given by Mr Oreja on behalf of the Commission (6 June 1997)

Following the seminar to which the honourable Member refers, contact was indeed made with associations of visually impaired people as part of the priority information schemes being run by the Commission (the Prince programme). Talks have started with the European Blind Association, the headquarters of which are in Paris, with a view to launching measures to bring information about the euro to disabled people in general and the blind and partially sighted in particular.

Regarding the 'Citizens first' campaign, a project developed by the Swedish Association of the Visually Impaired received complete financial backing from the Commission. Similar contacts have taken place with the Organización Nacional de Ciegos de España (the Spanish National Association for the Blind), which is expected to submit an official proposal very shortly.

As far as the information campaign on the Intergovernmental Conference is concerned, specific measures will be planned during the second stage of the exercise, insofar as budgetary resources permit, to explain the new Treaty which is due to come out of the Amsterdam European Council.

The Commission also had wide-ranging consultations with bodies representing associations for the visually impaired with a view to defining the technical constraints to be taken into account when manufacturing euro coins and notes. When the new currency is finally produced, the special requirements of the visually impaired will thus be taken into account. The Commission has also had the opportunity to present a book listing Community and national schemes for the disabled which has been published in Spanish and English under the title 'European Disability Law'.

For further information on official documents accessible to the visually impaired, the Honourable Member is requested to refer to the answer to Written Question No E-1520/97 by Mrs Jackson ((OJ C 367, 4.12.1997. )).
WRITTEN QUESTION E-2006/97 by Johanna Maij-Weggen (PPE) to the Commission (11 June 1997)

Subject: Free movement of goods from the Netherlands to Italy

A Dutch citizen who has moved home to Italy where he is now resident has told me that re-registering a Dutch car in Italy requires not only a lot of bureaucracy but also the payment of some FL 800.

What exactly are the procedures for re-registering a Dutch car in Italy and is the sum of FL 800 correct?

If so, does the Commission feel this is correct implementation by the Italian authorities of the principle of the free movement of goods in the Community?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission (23 July 1997)

The Commission explained the principles applicable to the registration of vehicles previously registered in another Member State in its interpretative communication of 15 May 1996 ((OJ C 143, 15.5.1996. )). In that communication it indicates, in the light of the case law of the Court of Justice, what Member States must do in order to help simplify controls in intra-Community trade and sets out the rights which private individuals derive from the EC Treaty in this area.

In its communication the Commission does not lay down any scale of charges such as might make it possible to assess the compatibility with Community law of the sums to be paid by a person seeking to register a vehicle to the authorities of the Member State of destination of that vehicle. It merely points out that the documents which the manufacturer or his representative need - where their intervention is called for - in order to check the vehicle's technical characteristics must be issued at reasonable cost and within a reasonable period of time. In the Commission's view, a period of not more than three weeks and a cost of around ECU 100 may be deemed to meet this condition.

These criteria are, however, intended only as a guide. A number of factors may affect the vehicle being registered, depending on whether it is a model with EC approval or one with national approval. In the latter case it must be checked whether the vehicle was type-approved or individually approved. The range of checks to be carried out by the Member State of destination may vary in each of these sets of circumstances.

This being so, the Commission is unable to comment on the compatibility or otherwise of the case mentioned by the Honourable Member on the basis solely of the data contained in the question. It therefore calls upon the Honourable Member to provide further details so that it might, if appropriate, take the matter up with the Italian authorities. The person concerned may also complain to the Commission direct if he feels his rights under the Treaty have been infringed by those authorities.
WRITTEN QUESTION E-1819/97 by Jesús Cabezón Alonso (PSE) to the Commission (28 May 1997)

Subject: BSE and possible sanctions against officials

Bearing in mind the research and conclusions of the special parliamentary committee which studied the origins and development of bovine spongiform encephalopathy and the possible failures to comply with Community legislation, will the Commission instigate and, where appropriate, decide on administrative penalties against Commission officials?

Answer given by Mr Santer on behalf of the Commission (30 June 1997)

The Commission will act, conforming to the statute, in taking the appropriate measures, both at the level of the organisation of its services, and at the level of the individual measures, that it judges to be necessary.
WRITTEN QUESTION E-1659/97 by Nikitas Kaklamanis (UPE) and Mihail Papayannakis (GUE/NGL) to the Commission (14 May 1997)

Subject: The future of the Community Support Framework

Given that supplementary resources will very likely be required to complete many of the projects in the southern Member States financed by the Cohesion Fund and the Structural Funds, and in the light of reports from DG XVI that the Commissioner responsible intends to organize a conference to hear Member States' views on the volume of funding, will the Commission say whether it has analysed the long-term investments needed to complete the projects included in the Second Community Support Framework, and whether it already has some general notions about how to organize such funding?

Answer given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission (8 July 1997)

The Commission intends, shortly after completion of the intergovernmental conference, to table broad proposals for the future financing of the Community and for policy in the area of economic and social cohesion after 1999. It appears that the least prosperous regions of the Community should remain the main beneficiaries of structural assistance. Support for regions, including rural areas, experiencing structural adjustment difficulties in the more prosperous Member States and for the adaptation of human resources should also be continued.

Although it is difficult to give a detailed indication of the proposals the Commission will make, the system of structural and cohesion funds must, in any event, be directed towards more concentration, greater simplification and increased effectiveness.
WRITTEN QUESTION E-1926/97 by Anita Pollack (PSE) to the Commission (4 June 1997)

Subject: Abolition of duty-free sales in 1999

Has the Commission undertaken any research into the social and economic consequences of the planned abolition of duty-free sales?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission (11 July 1997)

The Commission would remind the Honourable Member that the Council decided to abolish duty-free sales in intra-Community trade in 1991, when the directives abolishing tax-related border controls were adopted as part of the moves to establish the single market.

However, the Council decided to allow intra-Community duty-free sales to continue until 30 June 1999, so that the necessary measures could be taken during the seven-year transition period to mitigate the social impact in the sectors concerned and the associated regional problems. This temporary exemption, a one-off measure in support of a specific activity, represents an exception to the principles underlying the single market.

The Commission regrets that the sectors concerned have not so far made use of the grace period allowed by the Council to develop a strategy which would enable them to adjust to the abolition of the tax concession associated with duty-free sales, although it is now five years since the decision was taken. Instead, the duty-free sales sector boosted its turnover by about 50% between 1991 and 1995, thus exerting pressure by unacceptable means. This increase in turnover also reflects the scale of the tax concession enjoyed by the sector, which represents, on average, 35% of turnover.

Furthermore, the Commission notes that the arguments being advanced today are exactly the same as those put forward in 1991. Accordingly, it has no plans to conduct a study of the social and economic repercussions in the sector concerned. In this regard it endorses the approach advocated by the Ecofin Council on 11 November 1996.
WRITTEN QUESTION E-1627/97 by Bárbara Dührkop Dührkop (PSE) to the Commission (14 May 1997)

Subject: URBAN Programme

10 January 1997 was the deadline for the submission of urban development projects under the 1997-1999 URBAN programme.

How many projects have been submitted by the Spanish authorities?

How many of those were originated by the Basque Country Autonomous Community? To which localities do they relate and what are their intended objectives?

Which projects has the Commission selected amongst all the ones submitted by the Spanish Government?

Answer given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission (27 June 1997)

On 9 January 1997 the Spanish authorities submitted a programme under the Urban Community Initiative (1997-99) comprising 12 projects. Of these projects, none concerns municipalities located in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country.

The Commission is examining the application. However, the Spanish authorities are at present reformulating the text of the programme originally submitted. The Commission considers that a decision approving this programme is unlikely to be taken until the last quarter of this year.
WRITTEN QUESTION E-1664/97 by David Bowe (PSE) to the Commission (20 May 1997)

Subject: End of life vehicles

Why can the Commission not finalise its draft proposal for a Directive on end of life vehicles?

Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission (2 July 1997)

The Commission intends to adopt a proposal for a directive on end of life vehicles before the summer. The Commission is now finalising the text which includes a number of technical, economic and organisational issues requiring thorough consideration.
WRITTEN QUESTION E-1767/97 by Nikitas Kaklamanis (UPE) to the Commission (27 May 1997)

Subject: Selection of staff for the European Environment Agency (EEA)

The European Environment Agency is funded from the EU budget. The Agency has a shortage of Greek staff, whose presence is confined to the vice-chairmanship of the EEA's Scientific Committee and ex officio placements of Greek civil servants.

A new process of selecting staff ('temporary agents') at grades A7, A6 and A5 is already under way. Will the Commission, therefore, say whether the selection process will endeavour to observe the required balance of nationalities among the EEA's staff so that Greek nationals are adequately represented at this very important European Agency?

Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission (1 July 1997)

The European environment agency is an independent body with legal personality even though it is funded almost entirely by a subsidy from the Community budget. Article 9 of Regulation (EEC) No 1210/90 on the establishment of the European environment agency and the Europeanenvironment information and observation

network ((OJ L 120, 11.5.1990. )) gives responsibility to the executive director of the Agency for all staff matters and the executive director, in turn, is accountable to the management board of the Agency for his activities. This means that the Commission is not responsible for the Agency's recruitment procedures and is not able to comment on the details of the selection process, including the competition for the recruitment of three 'A' grade staff and two 'B' grade staff which was published in the Official journal on 11th April 1997.

The question has been passed onto the executive director for a detailed response on behalf of the Agency.