WRITTEN QUESTION E-2129/01 by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission. Legislation against domestic and sexual violence for the protection of women and minors in the candidate countries.
Date: 2001-07-17
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: accession criteria, accession to the European Union, domestic violence, gender equality, human rights, report, sexual violence

C 93 E/66

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.4.2002

also the fact that many of these countries have suffered an environmental disaster. The soil, and hence also
animal fodder, has been contaminated with heavy metals, such as cadmium, mercury and lead, in addition
to radioactive nuclides resulting from the fallout from Chernobyl. According to EU estimates, Italy imports
more than 200 000 horses per year, 70 % of them from Eastern Europe.

Can the Commission say whether:

1.

2.

3.

it is aware of the risks outlined above;

it does not consider the situation presents a grave danger for consumer health;

it does not consider, in view of the enlargement of the Union, that the countries involved in this trade
must
transpose the existing European directives on preventive health in connection with meat
consumption and that by analogy with the Member States’ ban on the consumption of the liver and
kidneys of animals from outside the Community, there should be an equally strict ban, especially for
those countries which have launched the accession procedure, on exporting animals which do not
have the health characteristics allowing them to be marketed without risks to the consumer;

4.

it does not consider it desirable, for this purpose, to contact the health ministers of those countries to
find out about and assess the existing legislation on the subject and their opposite numbers in the
Member States, with a view to devising joint measures to tackle this problem?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(27 September 2001)

1. and 2.
The Community has laid down conditions governing imports of live animals and animal
products from non-member countries. Those conditions seek to protect the Community consumer and are
at least equivalent to those laid down for Community products. They may comprise a list of authorised
non-member countries and monitoring requirements, in particular covering the detection of residues, and
lists of establishments approved for meat imports. The guarantees required call for the presentation of
health certificates, models for which are laid down at Community level. Imports are inspected at approved
border inspection posts on entry into the Union. In addition, the Food and Veterinary Office conducts
regular inspection visits to non-member countries to ensure that the authorities comply with the rules.

This system of guarantees applies to meat, including horsemeat, and live animals imported from countries
in eastern Europe. The Commission accordingly considers that EU consumers do have the requisite
guarantees, assuming the rules are applied strictly.

3. and 4.
Under the enlargement negotiations, the candidate countries are required to adopt national
legislation implementing the body of EU law. Naturally this principle covers health and veterinary matters.
Regular meetings are held with the candidate countries to assess progress made. The aim is to ensure that,
by the date of accession at the latest, not only will the Community regulations have been incorporated into
the national
law of the candidate countries but they will also actually be applied by the national
authorities. To that end the candidate countries have presented a general document outlining their strategy
for ensuring food safety.

(2002/C 93 E/083)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2129/01

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission

(17 July 2001)

Subject: Legislation against domestic and sexual violence for the protection of women and minors in the

candidate countries

It is an undeniable fact that violence against women and minors in the family is on the increase.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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In many EU countries domestic violence, including sexual violence against wives or female partners, is
punished, with sanctions including banning a husband or partner guilty of such an offence from the family
home. Despite this legislation in the present Member States the scale of violence against women continues
to be alarming and substantial.

Can the Commission say:

1. how cases of violence against women and minors in the family are regulated and sanctioned in the

candidate countries;

2. whether, in these pre-accession years, checks are being carried out on the laws protecting women and
combating the violence to which they are subjected in all sectors of social life, including the world of
work;

3. whether it intends to ask the governments of the candidate countries to bring their legislation on the

subject into line with standards in the existing Member States;

4. whether it does not consider it appropriate to ascertain, as a prerequisite for accession, the existence

of such laws to protect women and combat domestic violence?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(10 September 2001)

The Commission would point out that the matters raised by the Honourable Member are dealt with by the
Commission in the regular reports which it presents every year to Parliament and the Council on the
progress made towards accession by the candidate countries. The next regular reports will be presented in
November.

In the last reports, presented in November last year:

1. and 4.

the Commission pointed out the problems encountered and the measures taken (including those
concerning the ratification of certain agreements) and shortcomings in the legislation, particularly as
regards Cyprus, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Turkey;

2.

the candidate countries the Commission analysed the existing situation regarding equal
for all
the
opportunities for men and women. The analysis covered the chapter on observance of
Copenhagen political criteria, and in particular respect for human rights, of a social, economic and
cultural nature, and also the application of the social chapter of the Community acquis.

3. The Commission would point out to the Honourable Member that application of the Community
acquis formed part of the conditions laid down for accession by the Copenhagen European Council in
1993 (21 and 22 June 1993). In the Commission’s regular reports, under the association agreements
concluded between the Community and its Member States on the one hand and each of the candidate
countries on the other, and also as part of the accession negotiations,
it therefore reminds the
candidate countries of this obligation, stressing that the social acquis is essential in this area and that
they must comply with it.

(2002/C 93 E/084)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2137/01

by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

Subject: African immigrants arriving on Spain’s Costa del Sol

(17 July 2001)

Recently, there has been an increase in the numbers of African immigrants arriving on Spain’s Costa del
Sol, after crossing the Strait of Gibraltar at night in small, unsafe vessels, and dead bodies continue to be
washed up on to Spanish beaches. During the nights of 26 and 27 June, over 1000 people arrived in
dozens of vessels; 500 of them were arrested and of the 62 people travelling in one of the vessels, one was
found to be dead and 20 to be injured. What new action is the Commission planning to take in response
to this tragedy?