WRITTEN QUESTION P-0499/99

by Pierluigi Castagnetti (PPE) to the Commission

(25 February 1999)

Subject: Humanitarian representations and gesture of solidarity in support of Edwin Husovic, a Bosnian student at the Nobili Industrial Technology Institute, Reggio Emilia, Italy

Edwin Husovic is a Bosnian student who for the last five years has been living with his family in Gustalla (Reggio Emilia) and, for the past year, attending the Reggio Emilia Industrial Technology Institute. Within the past few days, the British Embassy in Italy has refused to grant him the entry visa required for a study trip to London on the grounds that his passport is shortly due to expire, albeit after the trip is over.

Will the Commission draw the attention of the appropriate British diplomatic authorities to the special circumstances and the common principles of solidarity by which they are bound, in the same way as the other Member States already involved in humanitarian operations to aid victims of the war in former Yugoslavia, with a view to persuading them to reconsider their attitude and allow Edwin Husovic to visit the United Kingdom with his fellow students, without infringing the relevant international conventions?

Answer given by Ms Gradin on behalf of the Commission

(1 April 1999)

According to the Honourable Member, the person in question applied to the British consular authorities for a visa, the grant of which is at the discretion of the United Kingdom. Under the Treaty on European Union, the Commission has no powers to intervene in cases where a Member State has refused to grant a visa to a national of a non-member country.

The Honourable Member's attention is drawn to another procedure which would have resulted in a different treatment of this case. On 30 November 1994 the Council adopted a Decision on a joint action under Article K.3(2)(b) of the European Union Treaty concerning travel facilities for school pupils from third countries resident in a Member State.(1)

Article 1 of the said Decision stipulates that a Member State shall not require a visa of a school pupil who is not a national of Member State but who is legally resident in another Member State and who seeks to enter its territory for a short stay if: (a) in the framework of a school excursion, the school pupil is travelling as a member of a group of school pupils from a general education school; (b) the group is accompanied by a teacher from the school in question who is able to present a list of the schoolchildren he or she is accompanying on the form contained in the Annex to the Decision; (c) the school pupil presents a travel document valid for crossing the border in question. According to Article 2 of the Decision, however, a Member State may refuse entry of a pupil if he or she does not fulfil the other relevant national immigration conditions.

The travel facilities provided for in the 1994 joint action are intended to improve integration of the nationals of non-member countries. The Commission regrets that in this case the school authorities did not make use of the procedure provided for under the joint action and that for their part the United Kingdom authorities did not draw the applicant's attention to the possibilities opened up by the joint action.

(1) OJ L 327, 19.12.1994.