WRITTEN QUESTION P-4067/00 by Stavros Xarchakos (PPE-DE) to the Council. Visa for Turkish nationals.
Date: 2000-12-20
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU migration policy, Türkiye, admission of aliens

19.6.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 174 E/225

If this cooperation is to bear fruit, instruments need to be available comprising adequate measures and
sufficient funding to support firms which decide to take part in the cooperation agreement. The former
ECIP, from which a number of European and Mexican firms benefited significantly, expired at the end of
1999 and there is as yet no instrument to replace it.

How will the Commission foster cooperation between firms in the EU and Mexico which decide to put the
agreement into practice in the various areas and sectors covered, and what financial
instruments are
envisaged for that purpose?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(19 February 2001)

The Commission shares the opinion of the Honourable Member as to the importance of making adequate
sums available to promote cooperation between European and Mexican businesses under the new
partnership agreement between the EU and Mexico.

The Commission has several financial instruments at its disposal aimed chiefly at small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs). On the one hand, there is the Al-Invest (1) programme, which enabled the Eurocentres
to be created (there are currently three in Mexico); a call for applications with a view to selecting new
Eurocentres was published in the Official Journal (2). The Eurocentres are integrated into local institutions
and supported by the Commission so as to facilitate contacts between European and Mexican businesses
leading to concrete schemes being undertaken, through the sector-by-sector meetings currently taking
place at an average rate of one a week.

ARIEL, another component of Al-Invest, affords tailor-made support
ventures.

to partners interested in joint

Sectoral meetings and ARIEL have partly replaced ECIP (Facility 1): the € 43 million commitment for Al-
Iinvest will make it possible to carry out activities up to 2004.

In addition, the Commission is able through the ATLAS project to support schemes designed to strengthen
the institutional and technical capacity of chambers of commerce in the Eurochambres framework. Already
approved by the Commission in December 2000, this project will be operational in the first half of 2001.

Finally, the Commission plans to support the second summit of UNICE and Latin American employers(cid:146)
federations scheduled for the first half of 2002.

(1) www.al-invest.org.
(2) OJ C 380, 30.12.2000.

(2001/C 174 E/242)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-4067/00

by Stavros Xarchakos (PPE-DE) to the Council

(20 December 2000)

Subject: Visa for Turkish nationals

Do Turkish nationals require a visa to visit Member States of the European Union? Is it part of the EU(cid:146)s
immediate plans to abolish that requirement? Which countries (by name) are opposed to abolishing the
visa requirement and on what grounds?

C 174 E/226

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

19.6.2001

Reply

(8 March 2001)

informs the Honourable Member that, under existing Community legislation (1), Turkey
The Council
appears on the common list of countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing
the external borders of the Member States.

Moreover, on the basis of Article 62(2)(b)(i) of the TEC, the Commission submitted on 26 January 2000 a
proposal for a Regulation listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when
crossing the external borders and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement (2). Turkey is
among the third countries for whose nationals the Commission proposes the visa requirement.

The European Parliament, which was consulted in a letter of 16 March 2000, confirmed the Commission
proposal in this respect in its opinion delivered on 5 July 2000. This proposal, which is currently being
discussed within the Council, was the subject of a further consultation of the European Parliament on
11 December 2000.

(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 574/1999 of 12 March 1999 determining the third countries whose nationals must be

in possession of visas when crossing the external borders of the Member States (OJ L 72, 18.3.1999, p. 2).

(2) OJ C 177 E, 27.6.2000, p. 66.

(2001/C 174 E/243)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-4068/00

by Karla Peijs (PPE-DE) to the Council

(20 December 2000)

Subject: Illegal emigration from the Schengen area to Britain

1.

Is the Council aware that there is substantial illegal emigration from the Schengen area to Britain?

Is the Council aware that checks at the external frontiers in Calais, Zeebrugge and Hook of Holland
2.
in particular leave much to be desired since spot checks on lorry drivers have found hundreds of
stowaways trying to leave the Schengen area, and many of these people have taken the opportunity of
illegally entering the Schengen area?

3.
Is the Council aware that with spot checks and, recently, checks on all freight at the Schengen
external frontier, border checks are in fact being carried out by private firms and not by the competent
authorities?

4.
Is the Council aware that stowaways stopped by private firms and handed over to the competent
authorities are released by those authorities so that they can (cid:145)go underground(cid:146) again and make a fresh
attempt to cross to Britain?

Does the Council agree that frontier checks should be carried out by the competent authorities and

5.
not by private individuals?

6. What action does the Council intend to take to put an end to this situation?

7. What action does the Council intend to take to compensate lorry drivers who, for no fault of their
own, fall victim to the UK(cid:146)s highly inflexible Immigration and Asylum Act (of 3 April 2000) and the
unworkable Code of Conduct which is part of that act?