WRITTEN QUESTION No. 19/98 by Nikitas KAKLAMANIS to the Commission. Need to protect Schengen system data
Date: 1998-01-29
Institutions: European Parliament, KAKLAMANIS
Subjects: confidentiality, control of communications, customs formalities, data protection, free movement of persons, fundamental rights, information system, protection of freedoms

22. 6. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 196/107

(98/C 196/149)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0014/98

by Gordon Adam (PSE) to the Council

(28 January 1998)

Subject: Response of the Council to the Greenpeace paper on energy and the environment

Will the Council state what response the Luxembourg Presidency gave to the Greenpeace paper on energy and
the environment, which called on:

(cid:145)The EU to develop policies to limit further exploitation of all existing oil and gas reserves in the European Union
and European Union territories ...

...  prevent  the  exploitation  and  exploration  of  oil  and  gas  in  the  European  Union  and  non-European  Union
territories ...

... phase out the production and use of coal as an energy source.(cid:146)

If the Council did not respond to this specific point, would it please do so?

Answer

(7 April 1998)

The Council would point out that it does not adopt positions on documents submitted to it outside the institutional
framework.

The Council would confirm that it considers the relationship between energy and the environment a matter of
great  importance  and  a  key  factor  in  energy  policy  choices.  For  that  reason  it  has  given  the  issue  consistent
consideration on the basis of the Commission(cid:146)s communications and proposals.

In that context it recently adopted, on 18 December 1997, a Resolution on a Community strategy to promote
combined heat and power (1).

Furthermore,  the  Council  is  continuing  its  discussions  on  the  basis  of  the  Commission(cid:146)s  White  Paper  on
renewable  sources  of  energy  ›  a  Community  Strategy  and  Action  Plan.  At  its  meeting  on  11  May  1998  the
Council is to hold a public debate devoted to energy and the environment.

It is also giving careful study to the Commission communication on a multiannual framework programme for
actions in the energy sector, which tackles all the issues relating to Community actions in the energy sphere.

(1)  OJ C 4, 8.1.1998, p.1.

(98/C 196/150)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0019/98

by Nikitas Kaklamanis (UPE) to the Commission

(29 January 1998)

Subject: Need to protect Schengen system data

According to European press reports, an official of the Belgian police auxiliary unit has been arrested and is
being  held  by  the  Belgian  authorities  in  Brussels  on  charges  that  he  has  passed  on  confidential  information
contained in the Schengen European system to criminal gangs, mainly from the Netherlands.

The  press  reports  in  question  note  that  the  above  system  contains  information  regarding  the  sex,  sexual
preferences, political and religious beliefs and the state of health of citizens of the Union.

Will the Commission give its official view on this matter and say how it intends to respond to these very grave
charges  which  raise  issues  concerning  democratic  freedoms  and  the  need  to  protect  the  private  lives  of  EU
citizens?