WRITTEN QUESTION P-3036/01 by Franz Turchi (UEN) to the Council. Murder of Afghan military commander Ahmed Shah Masood.
Date: 2001-10-25
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Afghanistan, Belgium, European passport, United Kingdom, homicide, judicial cooperation in criminal matters in the EU, political opposition, public safety, terrorism

C 134 E/182

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

6.6.2002

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(21 November 2001)

There are two types of procedure for recognition of qualifications with different objectives: the academic
recognition procedure and the professional recognition procedure. The former concerns the recognition by
a Member State of academic qualifications obtained in another Member State for allowing a person to
undertake further studies. It essentially is governed by national law or agreements between Member States.

Professional recognition aims to facilitate the free movement of workers and the self-employed within the
Community. It concerns the recognition of the qualifications required for access to the professions in
different Member States and is governed by Community law (1). The purpose of this procedure is to allow
persons who are fully qualified to practice a given profession in a Member State to have access to the same
profession in another Member State. It is a pre-condition for the application of the directives that the
migrant is fully qualified to exercise the profession in the Member State of origin (the Member State in
which the qualification has been awarded).

The directives cited in the written question are therefore not applicable in the present case.

The written question does not refer to a state measure but to an agreement between universities. The
subject of the question falls outside Community competence and should be dealt with through the existing
means of redress at national level, on the basis of national law.

(1) Council Directive 89/48/EEC of 21 December 1988 on a general system for the recognition of higher-education
diplomas awarded on completion of professional education and training of at least three years’ duration, and
Council Directive 92/51/EEC of 18 June 1992 on a second general system for the recognition of professional
education and training to supplement Directive 89/48/EEC.

(2002/C 134 E/186)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3036/01

by Franz Turchi (UEN) to the Council

(25 October 2001)

Subject: Murder of Afghan military commander Ahmed Shah Masood

The murder of the Afghan resistance military commander, Ahmed Shah Masood, was carried out by two
hired kamikaze killers, accredited as journalists from a fictional Arab television company ANI-TV (Arabic
News International), presented as a branch of the Islamic Obervation Centre based in London.

The two supposed journalists had two genuine EU passports, both issued in Belgium, the first issued in
Dilbeek and bearing the number EB616967 and the name Karim Rouzani, born in Oujda (Morocco) on
12 September 1963, and the second issued in Ixelles and bearing the number EB880773 and the name
Kacem Bakkali, born in Tangier (Morocco) on 22 October 1973.

Both passports are now known to have been stolen from the Belgian consular offices in Strasbourg
(France) and the Hague (Netherlands).

The letter of accreditation in the two kamikaze attackers’ possession bore the header and stamp of the
Islamic Observation Centre, whose director, Yasser Al Siri, is a charismatic leader of the Egyptian Jihad,
who was sentenced to death in his country for involvement in the attack on the Deputy Prime Minister in
1993 and suspected of organising the 1997 terrorist attack in Luxor, in which 58 tourists were killed.
Yasser Al Siri, who has applied for political refugee status in the United Kingdom, conducts his activities
from a bookshop in the Edgware Road district in London. Although he has no central office, nor any
premises or base of his own, he makes extremely effective use of new technologies to carry out his
indoctrination and cyberpropaganda activities at the internet address http://www. ummah. org.

Will the Council, and in particular the Belgian authorities, state what additional safety measures they
intend to take in the light of recent events and the new international situation?

6.6.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 134 E/183

Has the Council, and in particular the Belgian authorities, granted Yasser Al Siri political refugee status? Do
they not consider it necessary, as part of the campaign against terrorism, to ensure more effective and
extensive monitoring of
the activities of all organisations, whether secular or religious, which use
indoctrination and proselytising methods to further terrorist activities?

Reply

(12 February 2002)

Following the events of 11 September 2001 the Council has adopted a plan of action involving
67 measures. With regard to the security measures, attention is drawn to the strengthening of cooperation
between the heads of anti-terrorist units,
the strengthening of cooperation between anti-terrorist
magistrates, the drawing up of early warning plans and the strengthening of external border checks.

Of particular interest is the request to the Commission to establish a network for information exchanges
concerning visas issued and to ensure an improved input of alerts into the Schengen Information System.

Attention is given as a matter of priority to the identification of terrorists present in Europe and to the
organisations that support them, with the aim of drawing up a common list of terrorist organisations.
Under the Council’s supervision, the measures are being implemented.

(2002/C 134 E/187)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3040/01

by Konstantinos Hatzidakis (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Total of repayments required of Greece under the EAGGF

(30 October 2001)

What is the total amount of the corrections (repayments) required of Greece for each of the last four years
under the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund E Guarantee Section, and for what
reasons?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(19 December 2001)

A table is sent direct to the Honourable Member and to Parliament’s Secretariat setting out details of the
corrections applied to Greece in the years 1997 to 2000 in the framework of the European Agricultural
Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF). Definitive figures for the financial year 2001 are not presently
available.

The corrections fall into two categories:

E Definitive corrections, such as those relating to the financial consequences of the clearance of accounts
decisions which arise as a result of weaknesses in the Member States control systems leading to a
financial risk to the Fund.

E Corrections under Article 14 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2040/2000 of 26 September 2000 on
budgetary discipline (1), which are provisional in nature and subject to confirmation in the framework
of the Decisions on the clearance of accounts referred to under point 1 above.

Such corrections include three significant areas:

E Reductions for failure to apply the integrated management and control system within the statutory

deadlines.