WRITTEN QUESTION E-3483/01 by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Aid to Albania.
Date: 2001-12-17
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Albania, EU aid, aid policy, commitment of expenditure, development aid, political situation

5.12.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 301 E/11

country nationals submitted by the Member States. These other categories refer on the one hand to aliens
who were apprehended in connection with the irregular crossing of the border of a Member State having
come from a third country and who were not turned back and on the other hand to aliens found illegally
present in a Member State. In all cases the fingerprints are taken and submitted for the sole purpose of
helping the Member States to determine which one is competent for dealing with an asylum application
according to the Dublin Convention.

In more general terms there is an ongoing debate on the use of biometrics, that covers also fingerprints
and which,
the
Commission has not envisaged any proposal for taking and recording of fingerprints of immigrants or
Union citizens.

for instance, could be used for securing identity and travel documents. However,

(1) OJ L 316, 15.12.2000.
(2) Convention determining the State responsible for examining applications for asylum lodged in one of the Member

States of the European Communities, OJ C 254, 19.8.1997.

(2002/C 301 E/009)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3483/01

by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(17 December 2001)

Subject: Aid to Albania

There is a considerable difference between the commitments made by the EU in the form of financial
assistance to Albania and actual expenditure. What are the reasons for both the EU’s failure to deliver on
its promises and the failure of schemes such as road-building projects, water supply schemes and the
creation of fish markets? What is the Commission doing to resolve the problem?

What is the reason behind the shift from using aid for general economic development, to using it to create
conditions for formal links between Albania and the EU? Does the Commission still support this shift? If
not what is being done to correct it?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(1 March 2002)

Implementation of Community assistance in Albania over the past years has been delayed by a number of
factors: the unstable internal situation in the country, the limited administrative capacity of the Albanian
authorities to act as a real counterpart, and the lack of implementation and enforcement capacity by
Albania as regards legislation necessary for project implementation (for example, expropriation or land
planning for transport and water infrastructures).

The Commission is currently undertaking a thorough review of ongoing and planned projects in Albania.
This review might lead to project closures and re-programming of project activities and will encompass
also the project on a fish market in Vlora.

An audit of the Commission’s road projects was conducted in 1999. It found that some of the road-
building schemes have faltered because the Albanian Government was unable, in the troubled days of three
years ago, to expropriate the required land, and because some of the initial designs were not appropriate.
To improve the situation,
the quality and risk assessment capacity has been strengthened by the
appointment of civil engineers to the Delegation. Furthermore, to address the relatively weak institutional
environment in Albania, the Commission is assisting the Government in drawing up a master plan for the
country’s road network and offered assistance to elaborate on a road safety plan for Albania. The same
quality and risk assessment approach, paired with institution building support, is applied in the water
sector. Two of the five major road projects concerned were completed in 2001, with the remaining three
in the first half of 2002. Indeed, anyone who travelled two years ago from Tirana, to Durres, Rrogozhine
or Lushnje, and does so again today, will notice the progress that has been made.

C 301 E/12

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

5.12.2002

The Commission is taking action to improve its performance in Albania. In addition to the establishment
in 2001 of the EuropeAid Cooperation Office and efforts to streamline procedures, part on the major
reform underway in the EC’s external assistance programme worldwilde, the Commission plans substan-
tially to reinforce its delegation in Tirana, with the specific objective of improving implementation.
Furthermore, the Commission has adopted (on 18 December 2001, after a detailed analysis of the situation
improved strategy paper for Albania (1), which will be the framework for the
in the country) a new,
programming and implementation of future Community assistance.

Community assistance in Albania supports general economic development. But it does so by putting
emphasis on creating the institutional framework for a market economy, by consolidating democracy and
civil society, building the rule of law in particular through an independent judiciary, supporting public
order and fight against organised crime, fraud and corruption, securing fiscal sustainability of the state,
enhancing key areas of the public administration in order to achieve an adequate business environment,
supporting long-term, sustainable development through improving education or environmental protection.
In all these areas, the aim is to help Albania make progress towards the Union, an aspiration which enjoys
very substantial support among the people of Albania and which is an important element of the Union’s
efforts to bring lasting peace and stability to the Balkans.

(1) C(2001) 4394.

(2002/C 301 E/010)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3547/01

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(7 January 2002)

Subject: Rise in crime due to the increase in the proportion of the urban population of no known name,

nationality, address or source of income

1.
Does the Commission agree with the local authorities of major cities in the EU Member States that in
recent years a growing proportion of long-term residents has come to consist of people who have no
known name, nationality, address or source of income?

2.
Can the Commission confirm that, in practice, the Schengen agreements on a restrictive immigration
policy for people from outside the EU have not been found to result in any reduction in the number of
unidentified residents of cities but have mainly had the effect that growing numbers of people are
permanently resident there who feel themselves compelled to do everything they can to conceal their
identity and therefore do not apply for asylum?

Is one of the reasons for this increase in the number of residents whom the authorities cannot
3.
identify that, while there is no legal source of income and no other provision for those who have no legal
residence permit or who lose such a permit, this does not in practice result in their leaving but only in
their doing their best to avoid being found?

To what extent does the lack of legal income for this growing population group give rise to illegal

4.
employment, trade in illegal goods, break-ins and robberies?

in
Can the Commission confirm that it is particularly residents of the candidate countries who,
5.
anticipation of 2004, are moving to cities in the EU in larger numbers, and that disproportionate numbers
of them come from ethnic minorities in their State of origin and find themselves in the position of second-
class citizens in relation to the ethnic majority there, such as Turks from Bulgaria, Roma from Central
Europe, Albanians from outside Albania and Hungarians from the regions ceded by Hungary in 1918?

6.
Does the Commission see any way of making it possible to return to the previous situation, in which
it was a matter of course for the appropriate authorities to know the identity and sources of income of
residents, irrespective of whether they were of indigenous or immigrant origin, so that the normal rules
with regard to welfare, taxation, safety and liability to punishment also apply to them?