WRITTEN QUESTION E-1484/01 by Concepció Ferrer (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Catalan and the European Year of Languages.
Date: 2001-05-18
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European cultural event, cultural pluralism, linguistic discrimination, minority language, statistics

C 364 E/124

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

20.12.2001

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(12 July 2001)

Council Directive 91/533/EEC (Written Statement Directive) (1) specifies that employers are obliged to
notify employees of the essential aspects of their contract or employment relationship. This includes
information on the identities of the parties, the place of work and certain other working conditions.

This directive was implemented into British Law through the Employment Rights Act of 1996, which
makes no specific provisions with respect to clergy.

Article 1 of the Directive deals with the scope of its application. The Directive applies only to (cid:145)paid
employee[s] having a contract or employment relationship defined by the law in force in a Member State
and/or governed by the law in force in a Member State(cid:146) (Article 1(1)). If, according to British law, clergy do
not have the status of paid employees in the meaning of that provision, they are therefore not covered by
the provisions of the Employment Rights Act which implement the Directive.

The application of national legislation implementing Community Directives is subject to national judicial
review. According to Article 234 (ex Article 177) of the EC Treaty, a preliminary ruling by the Court of
Justice is required if any question concerning (i) the interpretation of the EC Treaty, (ii) the validity and
interpretation of acts of the institutions of the Community and of the European Central Bank, or (iii) the
interpretation of the statutes of bodies established by an act of the Council, where those statutes so
provide, is raised before a court or tribunal of a Member State against whose decisions there is no judicial
remedy under national law. The Commission is not aware of such cases in the UK with respect to Directive
91/ 533 and clergymen.

If a national court or tribunal would not comply with its obligations under Article 234 of the EC Treaty it
would commit an infringement of treaty rules for which the Member State would be responsible.

(1) Council Directive 91/533/EEC of 14 October 1991 on an employer(cid:146)s obligation to inform employees of the

conditions applicable to the contract or employment relationship (OJ L 288, 18.10.1991).

(2001/C 364 E/137)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1484/01

by Concepci(cid:243) Ferrer (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Catalan and the European Year of Languages

(18 May 2001)

A study on Europeans and languages commissioned by the Commission(cid:146)s Directorate-General
for
Education and Culture is being carried out at INRA (Europe) and it was decided, for the purposes of this
study, to add Turkish and sign language to the official languages of the European Union.

Since there are other official languages in Europe, such as Catalan, which is spoken in three EU countries
(Spain, Italy and France) by a total of 10 million people, is the official language in a Member State of the
UN (Andorra) and one of the official languages in Spain, can the Commission explain why it did not
include Catalan in this study?

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(23 July 2001)

The objective of the survey in question was to obtain general information on Europeans(cid:146) knowledge of and
attitudes
to languages and language learning. The survey was conducted according to standard
Eurobarometer methodology, based on a random sample of about 1 000 people in each Member State.
The list of languages coded in the survey was drawn up on the basis of previous experience with such
surveys according to expectations of interviewee responses that would give rise to statistically significant

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 364 E/125

results. This list was not shown to interviewees, but used by interviewers to classify spontaneous answers
to questions. Interviewees were not prompted. Answers citing languages other than those listed were
classified as (cid:145)other language(cid:146).

Despite sophisticated statistical techniques aimed at ensuring even coverage of the whole territory of the
Union, the survey could not be expected to produce statistically significant results for languages like
Catalan, spoken by part of the population concentrated in a particular region. In response to the question
(cid:145)What is your mother tongue?(cid:146), 47 of the 1 000 Spanish interviewees cited a language not included in the
list. For Europe as a whole, 1,8 % of answers to this question fell into this category.

However,
the Commission has undertaken an in-depth study of regional and minority languages
(the Euromosaic study) which contains information on the number of speakers of Catalan and other
languages spoken in Europe that are not official languages of the Union. This information is available at
the following web site http://www.uoc.es/euromosaic or in print form from the Official Publications Office.

(2001/C 364 E/138)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1485/01

by Robert Goebbels (PSE) to the Council

(21 May 2001)

Subject: Identity checks at Charles de Gaulle airport

One of the major steps forward for a People(cid:146)s Europe was the Schengen Agreement and its incorporation,
through the protocol adopted at the European Council in Amsterdam, into the body of law on the basis of
which the European Union functions. However, one of the essential principles of the free movement of
persons within the Union, that is to say an end to systematic identity checks on Europeans travelling in the
Schengen area, is currently being flouted at Charles de Gaulle airport in Roissy in France. Each passenger
travelling towards a destination within the Union is required by the Air France company to undergo
identity checks carried out by a security firm prior to entry into the departure lounges, requiring them to
pass through metal detectors.

What action does the Council intend to take in response to this new obstacle to freedom of movement?

Reply

(27 September 2001)

The Council would inform the Honourable Member that, with the entry into force of the Treaty of
including border control, fall within
Amsterdam, matters concerning immigration, visas and asylum,
Community competence pursuant to Title IV of the TEC. It is thus for the Commission, as guardian of the
Treaties, to ascertain whether Member States are fulfilling their obligations in these matters.

(2001/C 364 E/139)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1488/01

by Jean-Claude Martinez (TDI) to the Commission

(18 May 2001)

Subject: Fraud involving animal meal

In order to combat BSE or mad cow disease, France imposed a ban on animal meal intended for cattle in
July 1990 and, in July 1996, stepped up this measure by excluding (cid:145)specified risk material(cid:146) (SRM) such as
the brain, the spleen or the spinal cord.