EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 70/24

(2004/C 70 E/026)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3790/02

by Jules Maaten (ELDR) to the Commission

(6 January 2003)

Subject: Treatment of tourists by police officers in the applicant countries

An inquiry carried out by ANWB — the largest Dutch organisation active in the field of tourism, leisure and travel — has revealed that reports have been coming in of corruption among police officers in the applicant countries in their treatment of foreign tourists. There have been many instances of tourists being improperly stopped and forced to pay on-the-spot fines. For example, there is a series of successive border controls at the Bulgarian border, with money having to be paid at each one for permission to continue or on the grounds of alleged infringements (of the speed limit, say). In most cases, tourists are asked to hand over their passports, and the officials do not return the passports until money has been handed over.

Is the Commission aware of tourists (from EU Member States) being treated in this way in the applicant countries?

What is the Commission doing to prevent tourists from being improperly stopped and fined?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(10 February 2003)

Considering that the criteria for membership agreed by the Copenhagen European Council in 1993 (21/22 June 1993) include the guaranteeing of the rule of law and human rights, the Commission attaches great importance to the development of effective and non-discriminatory law enforcement in all candidate countries. The Commission monitors respect of this commitment and informs the Parliament and the Member States periodically through its Regular Reports.

The case cited by the Honourable Member concerns Bulgaria and the Commission is not aware that this is a problem experienced across all candidate countries. As concerns Bulgaria, the Commission clearly states in the 2002 Regular Report that police corruption is perceived to be a problem and that cases of bribery in the traffic and border police have been raised by Union citizens driving in and through Bulgaria. Following the Commission's request for improvements at the last meeting of the Union/Bulgaria Association Committee, the issue will continue to be discussed in the framework of both the Europe Agreement and the negotiations. Bulgaria's progress in this area will be continuously monitored until the date of accession.

The fight against corruption is considered to be a priority for PHARE assistance in Bulgaria and four anti-corruption projects were approved in 2002. One of these exclusively covers corruption within the police force.

Further to the complaints from Union citizens received by the Commission, the Commission has been presented with detailed information on apparent corruption-related cases which closely resemble the cases reported by ANWB, and ‘Stichting Inspraakorgaan Turken’ in the Netherlands. The Commission will invite Bulgaria to take appropriate measures in order to prevent incidents of the specific character described in the complaints and to inform the Commission of the results of its actions. The Commission will inform the Honourable Member of the reply.