WRITTEN QUESTION P-2088/99 by Maurizio Turco (TDI) to the Council. Right of asylum for EU nationals in other Member States or in third countries.
Date: 1999-11-08
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU Member State, EU national, Treaty of Amsterdam, intra-EU relations, right of asylum, third country

20.6.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 170 E/145

(2000/C 170 E/176)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2088/99

by Maurizio Turco (TDI) to the Council

(8 November 1999)

Subject: Right of asylum for EU nationals in other Member States or in third countries

Following the entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty, asylum policy was incorporated into the EC
Treaty under Title IV ((cid:145)Visas, asylum, immigration and other policies related to the free movement of
persons(cid:146)).

The Protocol on asylum for nationals of Member States of the European Union which has been attached to
the EC Treaty states that the Council shall be immediately informed if a Member State should decide to
grant asylum to a citizen of another EU Member State, thus confirming the central role played by the
Council in the exchange of information on asylum and immigration matters between the Member States.

As a result of the above developments, EU citizens may, as a general rule, be granted asylum by third
countries, but not by EU Member States, which means that the Geneva Convention of 28 July 1951 and
the New York Protocol of 31 January 1967 relating to the status of refugees no longer fully apply.

Have there been cases in which citizens from one EU Member State have been granted asylum by another
Member State or a non-Community country, either before or after the entry into force of the EU Treaty
and the Protocol on asylum? If so, on what grounds?

Would the Council not agree that a study should be conducted as a matter of urgency to identify and
remove the causes behind applications for asylum being made to third countries, with a view to offsetting
the restrictions placed on the right of European citizens to seek asylum in another Member State?

Reply

(17 December 1999)

Over the six months since the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam the Council has received no
notification under the Protocol on asylum of any application for asylum having been made by a national
of a Member State in another Member State.

The Council does not dispose of information relating to applications for asylum made by nationals of the
Member States in third countries.

(2000/C 170 E/177)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2126/99

by Nelly Maes (Verts/ALE) and Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

Subject: Financial aid to the European oil industry

(24 November 1999)

There is considerable movement in the oil sector: large companies are merging, OPEC meetings can lead to
a rise in the price of crude oil and there are regular press reports of new oil fields. The crisis atmosphere of
1973 seems definitely to be a thing of the past.

In the last two decades the Commission(cid:146)s energy policy has been increasingly concentrated on three
aspects:

(a) adequate energy supplies;

(b) environmental friendliness, and

(c)

consolidating a competitive position.