WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1276/98 by Gerhard HAGER to the Commission. Enlargement, freedom of movement and transitional periods
Date: 1998-04-29
Institutions: European Parliament, HAGER
Subjects: Portugal, Spain, accession to the European Union, enlargement of the Union, free movement of persons, transitional period (EU)

19. 11. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 354/87

(98/C 354/139)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1276/98

by Gerhard Hager (NI) to the Commission

(29 April 1998)

Subject: Enlargement, freedom of movement and transitional periods

When  Spain  and  Portugal  acceded  to  the  Community  as  part  of  enlargement  towards  the  South,  freedom  of
movement of persons was subjected to transitional periods, since this was considered a useful means of ensuring
that  the  necessary  adjustments  could  be  made.  The  pressure  of  immigration  from  the  candidate  countries
following the next round of enlargement will also be very high, and the neighbouring Member States will be
particularly affected.

1. What considerations did the Commission take into account in deciding to impose transitional periods as
part of Community enlargement towards the South?

2.

On what studies or investigations did it base its decisions at that time?

3. What  studies  or  investigations  has  the  Commission  used  so  far  to  prepare  the  forthcoming  round  of
enlargement?

How does it realistically estimate the length of the transitional periods for EU enlargement towards the East

4.
at present?

If it expects the length of the transitional periods to be different than in the case of enlargement towards the

5.
South, how does it justify these differences?

6. What will be the potential number of immigrants when access to the labour market is opened up?

7. What kind of people will want to immigrate?

8. Why will they want to immigrate?

9.

How will immigrants be distributed among the target countries?

In  answering  these  questions,  could  the  Commission  draw  in  particular  on  data  from  the  period  after  the
unveiling of Agenda 2000 in July last year?

Answer given by Mr Van den Broek on behalf of the Commission

(22 June 1998)

The  accession  negotiations  are  inter-governmental  negotiations  between  the  Member  States  and  each  of  the
candidate countries individually. Although the Commission is invited to make proposals on all the problems
posed  by  the  accession  negotiations,  it  is  the  Member  States  that  formulate  collectively  the  Community
negotiation positions. The Honourable Member(cid:146)s enquiries about Commission decisions in the negotiations are
therefore not pertinent.

(98/C 354/140)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1294/98

by Robin Teverson (ELDR) to the Commission

(29 April 1998)

Subject: The Ad Hoc Group on Illegal Trade in Ozone-depleting substances

What decisions were made at the meeting of the (cid:145)Ad Hoc Group on Ozone-depleting Substances(cid:146), which took
place on Thursday 26 March 1998, and when will it meet again?

Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission

(3 June 1998)

The meeting of the ad hoc group on illegal trade in ozone-depleting substances was attended by representatives
of the Commission, Member States(cid:146) environment and customs authorities, the European chemicals industry and
a non-governmental organisation which has published a report into illegal chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) and halon
trade  in  Europe.  There  was  a  useful  exchange  of  information  on  the  current  availability  and  prices  of
ozone-depleting substances in the Community which seemed to indicate that CFCs were becoming increasingly
scarce but also that there might continue to be a problem of illegal imports.