WRITTEN QUESTION P-0417/01 by Jillian Evans (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. Job losses at Corus plants in the United Kingdom.
Date: 2001-02-13
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU law, United Kingdom, collective dismissal, competence of the Member States, iron and steel industry, labour law, worker consultation, worker information

C 187 E/222

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

3.7.2001

is not in a position to deal directly with individual cases. Neither the Commission nor the Court of Justice
has the power to repeal a decision made by a national authority or to insist that a Member State pay
compensation to individuals. The national courts have sole competence in this. In order to facilitate
informal settlement of individual cases, however, a network of national contact points has been set up.

(1) OJ L 201, 31.7.1999.
(2) OJ 117, 23.7.1964.

(2001/C 187 E/247)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0387/01

by Nicholas Clegg (ELDR) to the Commission

(15 February 2001)

Subject: Galapagos Islands

What EU assistance,
the fragile
is available to the Ecuadorian Government
ecosystems of those Galapagos islands (San Cristobal, Espanola, Santa Fe) most directly affected by the
recent oil spill?

to help protect

if any,

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(28 March 2001)

Since 1994,
the Commission has supported the Charles Darwin Foundation (an independent body
responsible for research, training and educational activities for conserving the archipelago) as part of
a project to step up its scientific and educational programme (project ref. ECU/RELEX/1994/0046, for
€ 862 000). The Foundation is at present involved in a Community research programme on the manage-
ment of marine resources and the conflict resolution in island ecosystems financed in 1998 (ref. IC18-
CT98-0297, € 550 000).

the Commission received a request

for emergency aid from the Ecuadorian
On 23 January 2001,
authorities concerning the oil slick in the Galapagos Islands. On 24 January 2001 the Commission
announced that it was sending a European task force made up of three experts (1). This decision was taken
under the procedure provided for in Decision 2850/2000/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 20 December 2000, setting up a Community framework for cooperation in the field of
accidental or intentional marine pollution (2). The experts(cid:146) task was to help the Ecuadorian authorities to
define the best way of reducing the impact of pollution and helping to restore the affected areas.

Lastly, the call for proposals which is under way for the (cid:145)environment in developing countries(cid:146) (ref. SCRE/
111699/C/G) is open to organisations equipped to help preserve the archipelago(cid:146)s ecosystem.

(1) Press release IP/01/104.
(2) OJ L 332, 28.12.2000.

(2001/C 187 E/248)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0417/01

by Jillian Evans (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(13 February 2001)

Subject: Job losses at Corus plants in the United Kingdom

The steel producer Corus announced last week that 6 000 workers are to lose their jobs at the company(cid:146)s
plants across the United Kingdom with about 3 000 of these redundancies occurring at the company(cid:146)s
plants in Wales.

3.7.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 187 E/223

Will the Commission now investigate the procedures and actions undertaken by Corus which have led to
their announcement in order to ensure that the company has complied fully with all relevant European
legislation presently in place and, if such an investigation shows that Corus did breach European law, what
action can the Commission take?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(26 March 2001)

Council Directive 98/59/EC of 20 July 1998 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States
relating to collective redundancies (1) stipulates in Article 2 that where an employer is contemplating
collective redundancies, he shall begin consultations with the workers(cid:146) representatives in good time with
a view to reaching an agreement.

These consultations shall, at least, cover ways and means of avoiding collective redundancies or reducing
the number of workers affected, and of mitigating the consequences by recourse to accompanying social
measures aimed, inter alia, at aid for redeploying or retraining workers made redundant.

The Directive also stipulates that Member States shall ensure that judicial and/or administrative procedures
for the enforcement of obligations under Community law are available to the workers(cid:146) representatives and/
or workers.

In view of the above, and since the United Kingdom has transposed the Directive in question into national
law, it is up to the national courts and/or administration to recognise and resolve any contentious issues
that may arise in this particular case.

(1) OJ L 225, 12.8.1998.

(2001/C 187 E/249)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0418/01

by Francesco Speroni (TDI) to the Commission

(13 February 2001)

Subject: Absence of an index in the selected instruments taken from the Treaties

Can the Commission say why there is no index in the paper version of the selected instruments taken from
the Treaties; why the protocols, declarations and institutional acts and texts are missing from the Intranet
version; why the Intranet version is not available in the usual Word format?

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(21 March 2001)

As the (cid:145)author(cid:146) of this publication is the Council of the European Union, the Commission is not in
a position to reply to the question posed by the Honourable Member.

The Office for Official Publications of the European Communities (cid:129) which serves all the EU institutions
and agencies (cid:129) has followed the instructions of the Council for both the paper edition of this publication
and the version available on the Internet.