WRITTEN QUESTION P-2978/01 by Eija-Riitta Korhola (PPE-DE) to the Council. Discrimination against visually handicapped people on public transport in Portugal.
Date: 2001-10-22
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Portugal, anti-discriminatory measure, discrimination based on disability, equal treatment, means of public conveyance, physically disabled person, public awareness campaign

6.6.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 134 E/163

The Commission is not aware of the report from the University of Leiden to which the Honourable
Member refers. The Commission has received, however, several studies about actual and future ecosystem
management
in the Western Scheldt which have been jointly published by the Belgian and Dutch
authorities.

Furthermore, the Commission recently received a complaint which alleges that the environmental impact
assessment procedure concerning the Container Terminal Project at Vlissingen has failed to make a correct
assessment of potential damage to the natural values of the Western Scheldt estuarine environment,
notably with regard to some of the sites mentioned by the Honourable Member.

The Commission will send a request for information on the application to this project of Article 6(3) and
Article 6(4) of the Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC to the Dutch Government

(1) OJ L 206, 22.7.1992.

(2002/C 134 E/164)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2978/01

by Eija-Riitta Korhola (PPE-DE) to the Council

(22 October 2001)

Subject: Discrimination against visually handicapped people on public transport in Portugal

At the end of September and the beginning of October this year a Finnish national was on a walking
holiday in the hills of Northern Portugal (the national park of Peneda-Gerês). The person in question is
visually handicapped and is unable to walk without his Translator’s note: Or ‘her’. Since Finnish makes no
distinction between masculine and feminine pronouns, it is not clear from the original whether the person
in question is a man or a woman guide dog. The attitude taken to the guide dog on the aeroplane (Luxair),
on the Airbus at Porto Airport, on the Portuguese railways and in taxis was very good, but on 4 October
2001 the company operating the coach between Porto and Braga (a major university town) and from
Braga to Gerês (an important tourist centre) refused to let the guide dog on to the vehicle. The railways
were on strike and the only alternative was to make the 100 km journey by taxi. The ban on dogs in
Braga coaches is absolute and also applies to guide dogs, and the managers of the bus station do not make
any exceptions even if the dog is muzzled. It should be recalled that this was a guide dog specially trained
for visually handicapped people, with the proper documentation to prove it. Such dogs are the eyes of
visually handicapped people.

Is the Council aware that visually handicapped people are discriminated against in Portugal by being
refused access to public transport (coaches) with their guide dogs? Has the coach company been guilty of
discrimination in contravention of Portuguese and Community legislation? What does the Council propose
to do to put an end to this type of discrimination against visually handicapped people in Portugal and in
the Member States generally?

Reply

(14 February 2002)

The Council would like to remind the Honourable Parliamentarian that the Council is due to adopt a
Council decision on the European Year of People with Disabilities 2003 with a view, inter alia, to raising
awareness of
the rights of people with disabilities to protection against discrimination and to full
enjoyment of their rights, and to promoting the exchange of best practices and effective strategies at local,
national and European level.

A situation such as the one described by the Honourable Parliamentarian where a general rule, when
applied to people with disabilities, becomes a form of discrimination is one that could best be remedied by
the type of action that will be promoted by the European Year of People with Disabilities, because
experience shows both that it is not possible to legislate in all the areas where discrimination is likely to
occur and that raising awareness can prove a very effective way of combating discrimination.

C 134 E/164

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

6.6.2002

In any event, the principal Directive which deals with the question of discrimination against, inter alia,
people with disabilities (Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2001) (1) applies only to the
employment field. It cannot, of course, be excluded that the Commission will at a future date present a
proposal for a Directive with a broader scope but, at the time of writing, no such proposal has been
received.

(1) Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in

employment and occupation (OJ L 303, 2.12.2000, p. 16).

(2002/C 134 E/165)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2981/01

by Rosemarie Müller (PSE) to the Commission

(19 October 2001)

Subject:

’100 % vegetarian’ food labelling

labelled ‘100 % vegetarian’ contains animal gelatine,

If a foodstuff
is that a breach of Directive
2000/13/EC (1) of the European Parliament and the Council? Article 2(1)(a) of this Directive states that
labelling must not mislead as to the ‘characteristics of the foodstuff and, in particular, as to its nature,
identity, properties, composition, quantity, durability, origin or provenance, method of manufacture or
production’ or ‘by attributing to the foodstuff effects or properties which it does not possess’.

(1) OJ L 109, 6.5.2000, p. 29.

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(21 November 2001)

The Commission would refer the Honourable Member to its answer to written E-2709/01 by Mrs Breyer (1)

(1) See page 83.

(2002/C 134 E/166)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2983/01

by Laura González Álvarez (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

Subject: Canalisation of the river Barxell (Alroy-Alicante)

(22 October 2001)

The Directorate-General for Hydraulic Works commissioned the ‘Confederación Hidrográfica del Júcar’ to
draw up a project to canalise the rivers in Alcoy. The project will result in a 1500 metre urban section of
the river Barxell flowing through a concrete channel.

As a result of protests by various citizens’ organisations and the lack of rigour in the study evaluating the
environmental effects, the environmental department of Alcoy town council delivered a negative opinion
and initiated a period of public debate during which a number of modifications were put forward. In 2000
the ‘Confederación Hidrográfica’ submitted a version of the modified project to the town council without
having presented it beforehand for public debate. In any event the river is to run through a concrete
channel.

As a result of this project and along the 1500-metre stretch of the river:

I the function of environmental corridor linking two areas included in the list of SCIs proposed by the
Region of Valencia for inclusion in the Natura 2000 network will disappear and hence Directive
92/43/EEC (1) on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora could be infringed;