WRITTEN QUESTION E-2126/01 by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission. Exploitation of children in Romania.
Date: 2001-07-17
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Europol, Romania, accession to the European Union, child protection, children's rights, organised crime, prostitution

18.4.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 93 E/65

(2002/C 93 E/081)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2126/01

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission

(17 July 2001)

Subject: Exploitation of children in Romania

Thousands of children in Romania are in the hands of criminal organisations, which use them for
prostitution, subjecting them to all kinds of violence. This situation was recently the subject of protests on
the part of Mrs Emma Nicholson of the European Commission, who pointed out that recently, at least, this
issue has become a matter of priority for the European institutions.

In this context can the Commission say whether:

1.

2.

3.

it is aware of such criminal practices in other countries which are candidates for accession;

it has alerted Europol, so that an investigation involving all the Union countries can try to discover
whether there is any complicity between criminal organisations and the authorities in those countries;

it does not consider that information should be obtained about existing legislation for the protection
of children and the family in general in those countries?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(8 October 2001)

1. and 3.
The Commission would remind the Honourable Member of the content of the regular reports
which it sends every year to Parliament and the Council on the progress made by the candidate countries
with a view to accession. The reports for 2000, in particular, noted the existence in a number of candidate
countries of problems similar to those raised by the Honourable Member and measures taken or to be
taken to deal with them, and legislation on the protection of children. This applied particularly to the
reports concerning Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia. The next regular
reports will be presented in November 2001.

The Commission also recalls that in the field of protection of children, the future Framework Decision on
combating sexual exploitation of children and child pornography is a legal instrument that will form part
of the acquis and consequently be implemented in the candidate countries too and that, in the accession
process, information is obtained regularly to assess how the acquis is being or can be implemented in the
candidate countries.

2.
The Commission recalls that Europol is competent for the fight against trafficking in human beings,
including child pornography, where there are factual indications that an organised structure is involved
and two or more Member States are affected. Europol’s work-programmes for 2001 and 2002 mention
this area of crime as one of its main priorities. Europol is currently actively involved in two recent major
investigations on the subject. In order to enhance co-operation with the candidate countries in this area,
the Council has authorised Europol to negotiate cooperation agreements with all of them.

(2002/C 93 E/082)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2128/01

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission

Subject: Health risks linked to consumption of horsemeat

(17 July 2001)

The problem of ‘mad cow disease’ has led to a considerable increase in the consumption of horsemeat in
Italy and other European countries. However, almost all this meat is imported from Eastern Europe, in
particular from Romania. In addition to the terrible conditions in which the horses are transported, there is