WRITTEN QUESTION E-2878/00 by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Council. Immigration to Europe and deaths of African migrants on the coasts of southern Spain.
Date: 2000-09-13
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Andalusia, Canary Islands, EU control, European Commission, application of EU law, approximation of laws, illegal migration, trafficking in human beings

C 113 E/202

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.4.2001

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(27 October 2000)

On 26 July 2000, the Commission adopted Decision 2000/521/EC (1) pursuant to Article 86(3) (ex Article
90) of the EC Treaty. In that Decision, it found that Spain(cid:146)s system of discriminatory landing charges
provided by Royal Decrees 1064/91 and 1268/94 and by Law 41/94 constituted a measure incompatible
with Article 86(1) read with Article 82 (ex Article 86) of the EC Treaty and with the EEA Agreement.

In that Decision, the Commission found that a system of discounts and different landing fees according to
the origin of the flight, as prescribed in the above-mentioned legislation, discriminates in favour of national
airlines. For all categories of planes,
it provides for higher fees for intra-Community flights than for
domestic ones. In addition, it provides for discounts which increase with the number of landings per
month. The discounts increase from 9 % up to 35 %. De facto, this system favours national carriers, as they
alone benefit from the highest discounts.

Accordingly,
Commission of the measures taken within two months of the notification of that Decision.

the Decision required Spain to bring an end to the infringement and to notify the

Whether the existing system of landing fees in Spain makes it difficult or impossible for airlines from other
Member States to use peripheral airports in Spain is a different issue. Up to now, no airline has raised this
point with the Commission.

(1) OJ L 208, 18.8.2000.

(2001/C 113 E/216)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2878/00

by Camilo Nogueira RomÆn (Verts/ALE) to the Council

(13 September 2000)

Subject: Immigration to Europe and deaths of African migrants on the coasts of southern Spain

In circumstances which even recently could only be compared to the attempts of Latin American migrants
to cross the Rio Grande into the US, the coasts of southern Spain, notably Andalusia, and the Canary
Islands are now frequently witnessing the arrival of small vessels crammed with migrants (cid:129) young men
and women, the latter often pregnant (cid:129) most of whom are arrested by the Spanish police (in the last five
days, 600 people suffered such a fate). Corpses are frequently washed up on the beaches and rocks in the
wake of desperate attempts to reach Europe. Spanish society is watching in perplexity as such deaths
threaten to turn into a routine show of cruelty. Meanwhile, the Spanish government, on the pretext of
adaptation to the European norm, has chosen not to regulate and facilitate the necessary inflow of
immigrants (whose presence is particularly called for in the Spanish state, where the population is fast
ageing thanks to the low birth rate), but, instead, to handle immigration in a repressive fashion: it has
recently brought a bill before the national parliament which will toughen the (cid:145)law on foreigners(cid:146) which was
quite recently adopted with the favourable votes of the vast majority of MPs.

Given that the French Presidency of the Council has just announced its intention to harmonise immigra-
tion and asylum law in the EU, and in the face of an overall problem of a harsh and cruel nature (as
further evidenced by the deaths this year of 39 people of Chinese nationality in Dover), what action does
the Council
in relation to the political attitudes of the Spanish government and to
Community law, with a view to preventing these absurd and unacceptable deaths of defenceless persons
on the coasts of Spain?

intend to take,

18.4.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 113 E/203

Reply

(20 November 2000)

The Council entirely agrees with the Honourable Member that illegal immigration into Europe is
1.
turning into a kind of slave trade which degrades human dignity, often at the cost of human lives. It would
refer the Honourable Member to the Council(cid:146)s reply to Written Question P-1391/00 put by Rodi Kratsa-
Tsagaropoulou.

It is not for the Council to express any views on the alignment of the Spanish (cid:145)Ley de Extranjer(cid:237)a(cid:146) on
2.
the EU acquis. Following entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty, questions to do with immigration, visas
and asylum come within the Community(cid:146)s sphere of competence (Title IV TEC). It is therefore for the
Commission, as guardian of the Treaties, to ensure that Member States fulfil their obligations in those
matters.

(2001/C 113 E/217)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2884/00

by Erika Mann (PSE) to the Council

(13 September 2000)

Subject: Decision of 14 August 2000 on public access to Council documents (2000/527/EC)

The Council decision of 14 August 2000 (2000/527/EC) (1) focuses on documents which relate to (cid:145)matters
concerning the security and defence of the Union or of one or more of its Member States or on military or
non-military crisis management(cid:146). The respective ranges of the European Union(cid:146)s second and third pillars
increasingly overlap in security matters (e.g. foreign policy and immigration). Does the above formulation
mean that the proposal can also indirectly bear on documents relating to police and judicial cooperation in
criminal matters? What exactly comes under the term (cid:145)non-military crisis management(cid:146)?

If the author of the document concerned is (cid:145)a natural or legal person, a Member State, another Community
institution or body or any other national or international body(cid:146), documents in the field of affect by the
decision may only be published with the author(cid:146)s written consent. What is the relevance of paragraph 3
which is added to Article 2 of Decision 93/731/EC (2) as a supplement?

The public has access to documents, except where they are classified as (cid:145)TrŁs Secret / Top Secret(cid:146), (cid:145)Secret(cid:146)
or (cid:145)Confidential(cid:146). Who is responsible for the classification of Council documents? On what criteria does the
Council classify documents (cid:145)TrŁs Secret/Top Secret(cid:146),
(cid:145)Secret(cid:146) or (cid:145)Confidential(cid:146)? Is provision made for an
expiry date after which classified documents are released?

Does not the extension undertaken under the second paragraph of Article 2 of Decision 2000/527/EC
with the addition of the term (cid:145)non-military crisis management(cid:146) within the definition (cid:145)protection of the
public interest(cid:146) of Decision 93/731/EC (public security, the security and defence of the Union or of one or
more of its Member States, military or non-military crisis management, international relations, monetary
stability, court proceedings, inspections and investigations) mean that through the addition of that term,
the boundary between the military-operational field and the political field becomes blurred?

(1) OJ L 212, 23.8.2000, p. 9.
(2) OJ L 340, 31.12.1993, p. 43.

Reply

(30 November 2000)

1.
As is clear from the first recital of Decision 2000/527/EC, that Decision is one of the measures
necessary to implement the conclusions of the European Council meeting in Helsinki in December 1999,
which adopted two Presidency reports (see Annex IV to the Presidency conclusions) on developing the EU(cid:146)s