WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3858/98 by Nikitas KAKLAMANIS to the Commission. FIBA decision concerning basketball
Date: 1999-01-04
Institutions: European Parliament, KAKLAMANIS
Subjects: foreign national, free movement of workers, migrant worker, professional association, professional sport, rights of aliens, sports body, work permit

C 297/108

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

15.10.1999

(1999/C 297/147)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3858/98

by Nikitas Kaklamanis (UPE) to the Commission

(4 January 1999)

Subject: FIBA decision concerning basketball

The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has decided to abolish the restriction on the number of non-
Community players in a team $ currently a maximum of two $ from the 1999-2000 season.

This decision will shatter the foundations of Community basketball, lower the standard of the basketball teams
of the Union’s Member States, destroy the ambition of young European basketball players to pursue a
professional career and, finally, lead inexorably to the sidelining and ‘unemployment’ of existing European
professional players.

FIBA’s decision actually targets two large groups of professional basketball players, those from the former
Yugoslavia and those from the USA, and (most importantly) will result in the loss of national identity in
basketball in the Member States of the Union.

Will the Commission say:

1. whether the freedom of basketball players from third countries to establish themselves and work in

Europe is consistent with Community law,

2. how it will respond to FIBA’s decision, which undermines European basketball and gives second place to

European basketball players, and

3. whether the above decision was taken following talks with the European basketball players’ union? If not,
is such a procedure consistent with the EU’s fundamental view that negotiations must take place before
any decision is taken which affects working conditions?

Answer given by Mr Oreja on behalf of the Commission

(16 March 1999)

The Commission can only repeat what it said in its answer to oral question H-1131/98 by the Honourable
Member.

The decision taken by FIBA is not, in principle, a breach of Community law. Accordingly, the Commission
does not plan to bring any action against that organisation. The decision was taken by the appropriate bodies
of the international Federation after those involved in this sport had been able to express their views.

(1999/C 297/148)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3860/98

by Konstantinos Hatzidakis (PPE) to the Commission

(4 January 1999)

Subject: Construction of hospital in woodland in area of archaeological importance in municipality of Vari

The Greek Ministries of the Environment and Health have authorised the construction of a large medical
research facility covering an area of 5 010 square metres in the municipality of Vari, Attica, which will house
the Central Public Health Laboratory, the National Research Centre and the Health Service Institute for
Research and Quality Control. Obviously, this is a facility at which biological and chemical research will be
carried out, producing hazardous toxic and chemical waste. The entire complex, which is EU-funded, is to be
built in woodland in an area of archaeological importance. In fact, 8 000 square metres of woodland have
already been cleared in one night. The scheme has provoked an outcry from the local residents and authorities
in the area, while the antiquities department of the Ministry of Culture is opposed to it unless the requisite
excavations are carried out to determine whether or not the work can go ahead without endangering the
important antiquities in the area.