WRITTEN QUESTION E-1738/99 by Umberto Bossi (TDI) to the Commission. Lack of controls by Italy at border crossings with the Republic of Slovenia.
Date: 1999-10-01
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Italy, Schengen Agreement, Slovenia, border control, external border of the EU, infringement of EU law

18.7.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 203 E/35

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(1 December 1999)

In 1998, Commission officials undertook 2 581 missions to Strasbourg costing a total of € 1 242 602.
Thus the average cost per mission amounted to € 481,44.

From January until May 1999 Commission officials undertook 1 122 missions to Strasbourg. Total costs
were € 598 310, i.e. € 533,25 per mission.

The Commission has no information on missions by staff of the Council and the Parliament, enquiries will
have to be addressed to each Institution.

The above figures relate to necessary transport and accommodation costs. Figures for what the Honourable
Member describes as the (cid:145)overall transfer operation(cid:146) including, for instance, a calculation of time used could
not be obtained without the disproportionate use of public funds.

(2000/C 203 E/043)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1738/99

by Umberto Bossi (TDI) to the Commission

(1 October 1999)

Subject: Lack of controls by Italy at border crossings with the Republic of Slovenia

The lack of controls by Italy at its borders with the Republic of Slovenia is alarming.

Apart from a number of international border crossings which are manned at all times and where identity
documents are required, other border crossings are left unmanned from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., while rural
crossing points are only manned in the mornings.

In the province of Gorizia, checks are operated at only five out of 22 crossings.

Is the Commission aware of this failure by Italy to carry out controls at the external frontiers of the

1.
Union?

2.

Does it consider that as a result Italy is in breach of the Schengen agreements?

Could this lack of controls not make it easier for non-Community nationals to enter the Union(cid:146)s

3.
territory?

Does the Commission feel it should intervene to compel Italy to carry out controls at its external

4.
frontiers?

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(17 November 1999)

The ten Member States party to the Schengen agreement are required to apply in particular the provisions
on surveillance and monitoring of external borders set out in Articles 3 et seq. of the Convention applying
the Schengen agreement, and the decisions adopted by the Executive Committee which have been
incorporated into the Union framework.

The arrangements involve the following in particular: external borders may in principle be crossed only at
border crossing points during the fixed opening hours; the border crossing points and opening hours are
fixed in principle by the Member State concerned; specific arrangements may be laid down for minor
border traffic; checks of external border posts are made in accordance with uniform principles; the
Member States have undertaken to exercise surveillance on external borders between crossing points and
of border crossing points outside normal opening hours; they have undertaken to deploy enough officers

C 203 E/36

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.7.2000

to conduct checks and maintain surveillance along external borders; finally, the Member States concerned
have undertaken to assist each other and maintain constant, close cooperation with a view to the effective
exercise of checks and surveillance.

From the data supplied by the Honourable Member the Commission cannot conclude that Italy is failing to
meet these commitments entered into under the Schengen agreement and now incorporated into the
Union framework.

(2000/C 203 E/044)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1743/99

by Hanja Maij-Weggen (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Enforcement of CITES Regulation

(1 October 1999)

On 2 June 1999 a shipment of 35 Fennec foxes and 10 Demoiselle cranes (both in Appendix II of CITES)
were flown by Lufthansa Cargo from Sudan to Frankfurt and from there to Johannesburg. On arrival at
Johannesburg, three foxes were dead, one was dying and the others were in distress. Owing to the
condition of the animals and a lack of proper health certification, the remaining 31 foxes were sent back
to the Sudan, again via Frankfurt. The suffering of the foxes would have been alleviated if the proper
obligatory veterinary checks had been carried out at Frankfurt airport.

Would the Commission say what steps it has taken to ensure that the conditions of the CITES Regulation
are being enforced at airports in the EU, particularly Frankfurt, through which many millions of animals
pass every year?

Answer given by Mrs Wallstr(cid:246)m on behalf of the Commission

(12 November 1999)

The Commission regrets that
the terms of Article 9(5) of Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97 of
9 December 1996 on the protection of species of wild fauna and flora by regulating trade therein (1)
appear not to have been respected in the case mentioned by the Honourable Member. The Commission
intends to draw the attention of the enforcement group, as set up by Article 14 of the Regulation, to this
particular incident as well as to the control of transport of live animal specimens under International air
transport association (IATA) live animal regulations and the necessity of appropriate controls at airports
and other places of import for transit or transhipment purposes in the Community.

(1) OJ L 61, 3.3.1997, p. 1.

(2000/C 203 E/045)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1755/99

by Klaus-Heiner Lehne (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Costs of employing Mr Hombach and his staff

(1 October 1999)

On 10 June 1999 EU foreign ministers appointed Mr Bodo Hombach Coordinator of the Stability Pact for
South-Eastern Europe.

This gives rise to the following questions:

1. Which persons are on Mr Hombach(cid:146)s staff, and by which Member States have they been sent?

2. What are the staffing costs for employing Mr Hombach and his staff?

3. What proportion of the costs of employing Mr Hombach and his team comes from the EU budget?