WRITTEN QUESTION E-2284/00 by Ulla Sandbæk (EDD) to the Council. Killings at Racak.
Date: 2000-07-11
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: International Criminal Tribunal, Kosovo, common foreign and security policy, fact-finding mission, war crime

3.4.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 103 E/107

(2001/C 103 E/117)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2282/00

by Elizabeth Lynne (ELDR) to the Commission

(29 June 2000)

Subject: European Schools

To date, 15 European schools have been established with a view to educating the children of EU civil
servants at vast expense to EU taxpayers. Each year, many of these children are sent on European holidays,
again funded by the EU taxpayer. Would it be possible for all children in Europe to have an annual holiday
abroad paid entirely out of the EU budget? Could the Commission justify their reasons for providing free
holidays for these children? Could the Commission justify the general and often excessive costs of these
schools?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(27 July 2000)

The European schools were set up to provide an education for the children of the staff of the European
Institutions from all Member States, thereby facilitating the operation of those Institutions. Other children
may, however, be admitted. In accordance with the Convention of 12 April 1957, the schools, of which
there are currently ten (cid:129) not fifteen (cid:129) situated in six Member States, are run by a board of governors
which is an intergovernmental body that is made up of the Ministers of the Member States responsible for
education and/or foreign cultural relations. A Commission representative also sits on the board.

Pupils at the European schools are not sent on holiday at the expense of the European taxpayer. As in the
national education systems, the schools organise trips designed to enable pupils to acquire new knowledge
and widen their experiences. Such trips are, however, school activities with clear educational objectives.
They are prepared for, and used, as a basis for educational activities during lessons. They are arranged for a
particular class or around a particular subject and not as an (cid:145)annual holiday(cid:146). The board of governors
approved the guidelines for school trips at its meeting on 27/28 April 1999.

The question of whether all children in Europe could be given a free annual holiday abroad is a matter for
the Member States, not the Commission, since it is Member State governments which have responsibility
for the education of the children of their countries.

The general costs of the European schools are set out in the budget for the schools, approved each year by
the board of governors. The representative of the board of governors sends the President of the Parliament
a copy of the budget as soon as the board adopts it each year. The Council and Parliament set the
Commission grant to the European schools each year when they adopt the Community budget.

(2001/C 103 E/118)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2284/00

by Ulla Sandb(cid:230)k (EDD) to the Council

(11 July 2000)

Subject: Killings at Racak

On 19 April 2000, I tabled a number of questions for Question Time (H-0404/00 (1)) on the killings that
took place at Racak on 15 January 1999 and the investigations carried out for the EU by Dr Helena Ranta,
a Finnish forensic expert.

C 103 E/108

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

3.4.2001

Not all of those questions were answered, and the unanswered questions are set out again below.

(cid:129) Is it true that Helena Ranta(cid:146)s autopsy reports of March 1999 in no way substantiate allegations of

(cid:145)executions(cid:146), (cid:145)torture(cid:146) and (cid:145)shooting at close range(cid:146)?

(cid:129) On what grounds have Helena Ranta(cid:146)s reports of March 1999 been kept secret?

(cid:129) As far as I understand, Dr Ranta has now presented her final report to the EU and to the War Crimes
Tribunal in The Hague. Have they received the same version of the report? If not, what differences are
there, and why can the EU and its Member States not receive the same report as the Tribunal, given
that Dr Ranta conducted her investigations for the EU? Will the Council make the final report
available to Parliament?

(1) Question answered in writing on 17 May 2000.

Reply

(9 November 2000)

Further to its replies to the previous question (H-0404/00), the Council would confirm that the final
forensic experts(cid:146) report was indeed forwarded by the Council, under the Portuguese Presidency, to the
International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, as the interim report had been beforehand. The EU thus
fulfilled the obligation on States and organisations to cooperate fully with the Tribunal and provide it with
any information at their disposal.

The Racak killings feature among the charges on the indictment against Milosevi(cid:230) and his henchmen for
crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war in Kosovo, as confirmed by the
International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia on 24 May.

It is now for the Tribunal to draw what conclusions it considers pertinent from the reports it has received.
The Honourable Member will readily understand that the Council does not wish to comment any further
on a matter which is now clearly sub judice at international level.

(2001/C 103 E/119)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2286/00

by Karl von Wogau (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(11 July 2000)

Subject: Fiscal representative in France

A medium-sized German firm that carried out part of the work on the new European Parliament building
in Strasbourg has a representative with powers of attorney in Guebwiller (Upper Rhine department). For
the purposes of processing value-added tax relating to the construction work performed at the European
Parliament the representative based in Guebwiller has not been recognised by the financial administration.
It is claimed in justification that the fiscal agent is required to have his or her seat in the same locality as
the building site, viz. Lower Rhine department.

Is the attitude taken by the financial administration consistent with the directives governing the processing
of value-added tax?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(14 September 2000)

Article 21 of the Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of
the Member States relating to turnover taxes (cid:129) Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of
assessment (1), in the version amended by Council Directive 91/680/EEC of 16 December 1991 supple-
menting the common system of value added tax and amending Directive 77/388/EEC (2) with a view to the