WRITTEN QUESTION E-1289/00 by Pasqualina Napoletano (PSE) to the Council. Abduction of Somali children from the Italian families charged with their custody.
Date: 2000-04-27
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU policy - national policy, Italy, Somalia, application of the law, child, common foreign and security policy, competence of the Member States, illegal restraint, international convention, judicial cooperation, judicial cooperation in criminal matters in the EU

6.3.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 72 E/37

What action has the Commission taken against these and other direct and indirect subsidies and what
further action will it take?

If no action has been taken, can the Commission state how soon practical steps will be taken?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(15 June 2000)

1.
The Commission would confirm, with regard to subsidising nuclear power, that when allegations
have been made concerning the granting of state support for nuclear-electricity generation within the
Community, the plaintiffs have never been able to substantiate their claims. In addition certain provisions
of the EC Treaty allow support to be granted or measures having an equivalent impact to be adopted.
Where there is a complaint it is necessary, in each instance, to carry out a close examination in order to
determine the compatibility of the aid.

The examples given by the Honourable Member meet the Commission(cid:146)s criteria when providing a

2.
framework for research assistance, and more particularly state assistance.

The rules applying, at international level, to nuclear civil liability were laid down in the Paris, Brussels and
Vienna Conventions on nuclear civil liability. Not all of the Member States have signed these. There can
thus not be any of the limitations within them that apply within the Community.

The Commission is unable to identify which safety tests will be funded under the Euratom Treaty.

The obligation on nuclear power plant operators to build up financial reserves in order subsequently to
fund operations downstream of the fuel cycle and the decommissioning of facilities represents a method
widely used to internalise the external costs of nuclear power. These are sums set aside for future spending
requirements which, in principle, do not constitute subsidies. However, the Commission is in the process
of investigating a complaint in this area. Moreover, the internal market would benefit from harmonisation
here.

In view of the information in its possession the Commission does not see what specific action could be
taken on nuclear power other than applying the Community law deriving from the Treaties.

The Commission can only reaffirm the fact that the direct and indirect assistance to the coal industry has
been investigated under Commission Decision No 3632/93/ECSC of 28 December 1993 establishing
Community rules for state aid to the coal industry (1), a decision based on principles of transparency. It
should also be borne in mind that regional assistance aimed at redeploying coalmining areas affected by
restructuring is not analysed in this context, but in that of Article 87 (formerly 92) (a) and (c) of the
EC Treaty.

(1) OJ L 329, 30.12.1993.

(2001/C 72 E/041)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1289/00

by Pasqualina Napoletano (PSE) to the Council

(27 April 2000)

Subject: Abduction of Somali children from the Italian families charged with their custody

In recent years there have been numerous cases of children, mainly of Somalian nationality, who had been
entrusted to the custody of Italian families being abducted by their (real or alleged) (cid:145)parents(cid:146) and illegally
taken to other countries (including various European Union countries).

C 72 E/38

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

6.3.2001

In some cases it has proved possible to trace the children concerned, but the families to whom they had
previously been entrusted encountered considerable problems in seeking to ensure that the rights of such
children were protected by the judicial authorities of some Member States of the Union.

There is reason to believe that, in many cases, these minors were not abducted by their real parents but by
third parties intent on exploiting them for financial gain.

In particular, many problems have arisen as a result of the fact that in some cases the provisions of the
Convention of The Hague on international child abduction have not been fully applied in practice, which
has caused difficulties in ascertaining how children are being treated and whether they are in good health,
and in exercising the right to visit the children and ensuring that minors are repatriated, as laid down by
the Convention. This is due to the tendency of the judicial authorities in some signatory states to consider
the merits of the original custody proceedings, in flagrant breach of the spirit of the Convention, which
limits the requirement to review the merits of custody arrangements to a few special cases only.

In view of the foregoing:

(cid:129) Would the Council state what measures the Union institutions intend to adopt to ensure effective

judicial cooperation with regard to the custody and international abduction of children?

(cid:129) What measures do the Union institutions intend to adopt to ensure harmonisation of the Member

States(cid:146) rules on recognition of child custody arrangements?

(cid:129) What measures do the Union institutions intend to adopt to ensure that existing international
agreements (including the Hague Convention) are fully and effectively applied by the Member States(cid:146)
authorities?

Reply

(18/19 September 2000)

The Vienna Action Plan of 3 December 1998 and the conclusions of the Tampere European Council on
15 and 16 October 1999 set broad guidelines guidelines for work in the coming years, in particular in the
area of judicial cooperation in civil matters, with a view to establishing an area of freedom, security and
justice.

Within these guidelines no work is scheduled to commence on the possibility of custody and international
abduction of children before 2004. However, if the Commission or a Member State were to submit a
proposal or an initiative, pursuant to the rules in Article 67(1) of the Treaty, the Council would study it
most carefully.

Moreover, the Council recently adopted a Regulation, on 29 May 2000, on jurisdiction and the recognition
and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and in matters of parental responsibility for
children of both spouses. This Regulation lays down rules for civil proceedings relating to parental
responsibility for the children of both spouses on the occasion of matrimonial proceedings for the purpose
of dissolving or loosening the marriage bond. The Regulation already introduces a degree of harmonisation
of Member States(cid:146) provisions, in particular on the recognition of rulings made in another Member State.

is aware that the Member States are party to international
As for the third question, the Council
instruments on child protection, in particular, as rightly pointed out by the Honourable Member, the
Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 on the civil aspects of international child abduction. These are
conventions which the Member States have signed and ratified. It is for each of the Member States to apply
them fully and effectively in accordance with public international law.