WRITTEN QUESTION E-2813/01 by Sebastiano Musumeci (UEN) to the Commission. Shipwreck in the Sicilian Channel.
Date: 2001-10-10
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Sicily, death, illegal migration, maritime transport, transport accident

16.5.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 115 E/165

4. Can the Commission record and indicate how much time, on average, it took, per Commissioner, to
reply between 20 July 1999 and 1 October 2001? Does the Commission agree that a clearer
understanding of how long it actually takes to answer questions is likely to generate healthy peer
pressure among Directorates-General and within Commissioners’ offices which will speed up replies?

5.

In addition to the hard-copy versions, can Members of the European Parliament also receive replies to
written questions from the Commission directly by e-mail, so that replies are never lost amongst the
mountains of written mail and to make it possible, for example, for replies to be forwarded to
interested parties and suppliers of information, or posted on political parties’ web sites, at the earliest
possible stage? If not, why not?

Source: own review of the response to questions tabled by myself.

(1) OJ C 163 E, 6.6.2001, p. 10.

Answer given by Ms de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(22 November 2001)

The Commission would firstly like to reiterate that it attaches the utmost importance to the fact that
Members of the European Parliament can exercise to the full their right under the third paragraph 3 of
Article 197 (former Article 140),
information and thereby enhance
to ask the Commission for
Parliamentary political control of the Commission.

The Commission’s aim is to answer questions put to it by the Members of the Parliament within the
deadlines desired by Parliament.

It regrets that it was unable to meet the deadlines in the cases referred to by the Honourable Member.
However, it can assure him that it is continually trying to simplify and step up computerisation of current
procedures and practices with a view to shortening deadlines for answers. In the short-term these changes
may perhaps extend deadlines but should in the future lead to an improvement in the situation.

The time needed to draft an answer and have it approved by the full Commission and thus the provision
of an answer by the Commission to a parliamentary question depends on many factors, among which
number the immediate availability of data or the need for in-depth research before the Commission can
adopt a position and give the information requested. Statistics prepared by directorates-general or by
Commissioners’ offices on the average deadlines for processing draft answers do not adequately reflect
these factors.

The Commission can inform the Honourable Member that as from now, in parallel with the dispatch by
post of an answer to a question put by an Honourable Member, the answer is transmitted the same day by
e-mail to the unit of Parliament concerned.

(2002/C 115 E/172)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2813/01

by Sebastiano Musumeci (UEN) to the Commission

(10 October 2001)

Subject: Shipwreck in the Sicilian Channel

The Commission’s answer to this Member’s Written Question P-2079/01 (1) dealing exclusively with the
request for the recovery of the bodies of 238 illegal Indian, Pakistani and Tamil immigrants who were
shipwrecked in the waters off the coast of Sicily during Christmas 1996, is totally unsatisfactory, as it does
not explain why the request cannot be met.

C 115 E/166

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

16.5.2002

Can the Commission say clearly and unequivocally:

1. what institution is competent to recover the bodies;

2. whether the recovery is still a matter of choice;

3. whether it considers it compatible with the declared principles of solidarity and religious feeling that
the bodies of hundreds of people should be left to be eaten by fishes just because they are not
European and are not entitled to a burial?

(1) OJ C 40 E, 14.2.2002, p. 181.

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(15 November 2001)

The Commission certainly shares the Honourable Member’s sentiments on the need to respect human
dignity, particularly as regards victims of the tragic events to which he refers. It regrets that he considers
the reply to his previous question to be unsatisfactory, but can only reiterate that it is up to the Italian
authorities alone to recover the bodies. No Community instrument, either legal or financial, can be applied
in this case.

(2002/C 115 E/173)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2818/01

by Jean Lambert (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

Subject: Student loans for British students resident abroad

(10 October 2001)

It has recently been brought to our attention that British citizens resident abroad who go to study at
higher education institutions in Britain are currently not eligible for the Student Loan scheme available to
British citizens resident in Britain. This can have the effect of denying access to British educational
institutions for these potential students due to financial problems. It seems an anomaly that loans are not
available to British students who happen not to have been resident in Britain for some years, and appears
to constitute unnecessary discrimination against these students.

We would like to know:

A Is the Commission satisfied that this constitutes equality of treatment for people in such a position?

A What steps is the Commission taking to ensure equality of treatment for such people?

A Does the Commission find any evidence of discrimination against citizens of other EU countries

regarding access to British higher educational institutions and funding?

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(14 November 2001)

According to Article 149 (ex Article 126) of the EC Treaty, each Member State is responsible for the
content and the organisation of its educational system. However, as far as conditions of access to
education are concerned, the Member States are obliged to respect the principle of ‘equality of treatment’.

According to the jurisprudence of the Court, at the present stage of development of Community law, the
principle of equality applies ‘to assistance given by a Member State to its nationals for the purposes of
university studies, only in so far as assistance is intended to cover registration or other fees, in particular
tuition fees charged for access to education’.