WRITTEN QUESTION E-3529/00 by Andre Brie (GUE/NGL) to the Council. Deaths and murders of illegal immigrants in southern Italy.
Date: 2000-11-13
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU migration policy, Italy, illegal migration, mortality

19.6.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 174 E/71

deliveries and consequently will not reduce the conventional mail volume and the revenue generated by
the public postal operator in the reserved area. The Commission thinks that its Decision strikes the
appropriate balance between the need to ensure the financial equilibrium of the public postal operator on
the one hand and the need of Italian businesses for time sensitive mailings on the other hand.

The Decision of 21 December is concerned exclusively with the application of the competition rules and
not about the Postal Directive. The Decision addresses particular competition issues raised by the Italian
Decree 261/99. Without prejudice to the political discussions in the Parliament and Council on a new
Postal Directive, the Commission is under a duty to take all action which it considers necessary in order to
safeguard the competition rules (see, e.g., Case T-266/97 Vlaamse Televisie Maatschappij NV, at paragraph
75).

The Commission has started an informal investigation by addressing a request for information to the
Dutch authorities. The Dutch authorities replied by providing the requested information. The Commission
is currently examining the information received, with particular reference to the economic result achieved
in the reserved area and to the extra costs related to the provision of the universal service.

(2001/C 174 E/071)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3529/00

by Andre Brie (GUE/NGL) to the Council

(13 November 2000)

Subject: Deaths and murders of illegal immigrants in southern Italy

Dead illegal immigrants dumped by roadside

The bodies of six illegal immigrants, presumably Kurds, have been dumped by the roadside in southern
Italy. It is assumed that they died of asphyxiation and that the smuggler decided to get rid of his morbid
cargo. The head of one of the dead had been squashed, as if the lorry had run over it. This is only the
latest in a long series of deaths and murders which occur weekly in southern Italy, the main conduit from
Albania and Montenegro of illegal immigration to northern and western Europe.

With reference to the above report in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica of 18 October 2000, and in
view of the fact that the number of people who have died at the EU(cid:146)s external borders has risen since the
start of the 1990s; given, moreover, that the majority of EU Member States are making increasing efforts
(from a financial and technical point of view) to protect borders:

(cid:129) Can the Council confirm this and similar reports, and what is its own assessment of such occurrences?

(cid:129) How many investigations into deaths have been instituted in this connection, and what has been their

outcome?

(cid:129) What concrete measures does the Council intend to take in order to prevent more and more people

dying as they attempt, perhaps illegally, to enter the European Union?

Reply

(8 March 2001)

The Council has no information or statistics which would allow it to reply to the questions put by
1.
the Honourable Member. It also draws the Honourable Member(cid:146)s attention to the fact that the investiga-
tions into the events which he mentions, the prosecution of those responsible for criminal acts committed
in such circumstances and the adoption of preventive measures are matters falling within the competence
of the Member States.

2.
As regards the measures which it has taken and is continuing to take in the fight against illegal
immigration, the Council would refer the Honourable Member to its reply to Written Question P-1391/00
put by Mr Rodi Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou.