WRITTEN QUESTION E-3362/00 by Chris Davies (ELDR) to the Commission. Slave labour in India, Nepal and Pakistan.
Date: 2000-10-27
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: India, Nepal, Pakistan, access to education, child labour, development aid, poverty, slavery

6.6.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 163 E/99

5. This situation distorts competition in that it penalises Italian companies, which are obliged to bear
higher costs than their competitors in other European countries in which the market has been fully
liberalised.

Does the Commission intend to take action to restore a proper balance in this sector, with a view to
enabling Italian companies to remain competitive?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(6 December 2000)

The Commission is closely following the ongoing liberalisation process in the electricity sector in Italy and
shares the concern expressed by the Honourable Member with regard to the increase in electricity prices
and the risks that that would hold for the competitiveness of Italian firms.

With regard to the supply problems referred to by the Honourable Member as one of the causes of rather
high prices for eligible clients, the setting up of a competitive supply structure is inevitably a slow process
which will depend primarily on new entrants coming onto the electricity supply market and providing
an alternative to ENEL S.p.A., the former monopoly holder. The rules contained in the Bersani decree
(DL No 79, 16 March 1999) relating to the sale of 15 000 megawatt (MW) in production capacity, should
help to broaden the range of suppliers, provided that these rules are implemented quickly and openly.

Electricity imports would also create competitiveness were it not for the obstacle presented by limited
interconnection capacity, as the Honourable Member rightly points out. The Commission has started an
ex officio procedure (COMP/E-3/37937) into the problem of the reserve interconnection capacity for long-
term import contracts. The matter is currently being examined and at this stage, the outcome cannot be
predicted. Together with the European regulators the Commission is studying the various methods for
allocating interconnection capacity, with a view to finding non-discriminatory solutions which would not
hinder the electricity trade between Member States and which would develop interconnection capacity.
Sale by auction could, under certain conditions, meet these requirements although it would lead to higher
prices for imported electricity.

The Commission has carefully watched the increases in oil prices which the Honourable Member mentions
as one of the causes of high electricity prices. It has prepared a communication on oil supplies in the
Union (1) and it is drafting a document on the security of energy supplies.

The Commission, in conjunction with national competition authorities, is continuing to apply the rules on
competition to the energy sector both carefully and rigorously.

(1) COM(2000) 631.

(2001/C 163 E/107)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3362/00

by Chris Davies (ELDR) to the Commission

(27 October 2000)

Subject: Slave labour in India, Nepal and Pakistan

Debt bondage, whereby people become bonded labourers when they take out a loan and are thereafter
forced to work long hours for little or no pay, is common practice in India, Nepal and Pakistan.

Will the European Commission bring pressure to bear on the governments of these countries to stop such
practices? Has this issue been raised during multilateral talks with India, Nepal and Pakistan?

C 163 E/100

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

6.6.2001

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(5 December 2000)

The Commission is well aware that socially disadvantaged and marginalised groups, in particular girls and
women are most vulnerable to being subjected to the form of slave labour described by the Honourable
Member.

Such practices are generally rooted in the pervasive poverty that reinforces existing social barriers and
patterns of ethnic and sectarian discrimination, not only in the countries mentioned by the Honourable
Member but also in many other countries with poor social indicators, including European countries.

Hence the Commission(cid:146)s strategy for cooperation, particularly in the sphere of development, aims first and
foremost at reducing the incidence of poverty and thereby paving the way to empower the groups that are
most likely to fall prey to the practice outlined by the Honourable Member. The Commission maintains
with all three countries cited by the Honourable Member an active dialogue on development and economic
co-operation aimed at reducing poverty, modernising the economic institutions and helping bring about
conditions in which adequate jobs are generated.

In India the Commission has committed the largest share of its development aid to bolstering a major
government programme that aims at ensuring that within the first decade of this new millennium quality
primary education is universally accessible to all school age children, even in the remotest villages.
Universal primary education is essential to addressing the conditions in which child, slave and bonded
labour are possible. The Commission further co-funds dozens of non-governmental organisations running
social action programmes that contribute to the economic and social empowerment of the poorest of the
poor.

With Pakistan, the Commission will continue to raise the issue of child and bonded labour with the
authorities. The Commission is the key partner in the international
labour organisation international
programme on elimination of child labour (IPEC) that aims to combat the practice of abusive child and
bonded labour through measures of prevention, withdrawal and rehabilitation. At a human rights
convention in April 2000 the Pakistani government outlined a course of action aimed at addressing the
problem of bonded labour. It recently set up a special fund for the education of working children and
rehabilitation of freed bonded labourers, a course of action long advocated in our dialogue and co-
operation programmes.

The Commission is currently in a close dialogue with the Nepalese authorities with a view to identifying
effective programmes that underpin the government decree of 17 July 2000 prohibiting the practice of
bonded labour.

(2001/C 163 E/108)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3364/00

by Roberta Angelilli (UEN) to the Commission

(27 October 2000)

Subject: Latest annual report on drug use in the European Union

At midday on 11 October 2000, the annual report of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug
Abuse on the state of the drugs problem in the European Union was publicly launched.

Chapter 3, concerning official (cid:145)responses to drugs use(cid:146), contains a paragraph confirming the existence of
a research project funded by the Commission to ascertain whether it is appropriate to encourage the
setting up of special premises ((cid:145)users(cid:146) rooms(cid:146)) where addicts can inject themselves with narcotics (p. 27 of the
English version).