WRITTEN QUESTION E-1485/01 by Robert Goebbels (PSE) to the Council. Identity checks at Charles de Gaulle airport.
Date: 2001-05-21
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Commission, Treaty of Amsterdam, air transport, free movement of persons, police checks, powers of the institutions (EU), transport company

20.12.2001

EN

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.