WRITTEN QUESTION P-1975/02 by Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Seville summit.
Date: 2002-06-28
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Portugal, Spain, border control, free movement of persons, freedom of expression, public safety, right to demonstrate, summit meeting, violence

C 92 E/124

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

17.4.2003

In carrying out the new two actions, the Commission is obliged to respect the provisions of Regulation
(EC) No 45/2001 of the Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of
individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and
on the free movement of such data. Therefore it renders the information anonymous and processes it in
aggregated form only.

In conclusion, the Commission will be soon in a position to provide statistical information on the amounts
paid to farmers. Detailed statistical information will be shortly made available to the public which will in
principle cover the request made by the Honourable Member. However,
the requested information
concerning the Gross Agriculture Product and the number of workers is not available at the level of
individual beneficiaries who receive payments from the European Agriculture Guidance and Guarantee
Fund (EAGGF) (cid:1) Guarantee Section.

(1) Commission Regulation (EC) No 419/2002 of 6 March 2002 amending Regulation (EC) No 2390/1999 of
25 October 1999 laying down detailed rules of the application of Regulation (EC) No 1663/95 as regards the form
and content of the accounting information that the Member States must hold at the disposal of the Commission for
the purposes of the clearance of the EAGGF Guarantee Section accounts, OJ L 64, 7.3.2002.

(2003/C 92 E/172)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1975/02

by Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(28 June 2002)

Subject: Seville summit

Bearing in mind the free movement of persons within the European Union enshrined in the Treaties, and
including the right to demonstrate peacefully,
the rights of citizens freely to express their opinions,
specifically during European Council meetings, can the Commission answer the following questions:

(cid:1) Do the events during the recent summit in Seville, when the Spanish police prevented hundreds of
Portuguese citizens from entering the country, including delegations from the Portuguese Communist
Party (PCP), Left Bloc (BE) and NGOs intending to travel to Seville to take part in the demonstration
on 22 June, mean that only capital now enjoys unrestricted freedom of movement?

(cid:1) Will application of the Schengen Agreement be suspended for all summits from now on, thereby

calling into question the right to demonstrate freely at European Union level?

(2003/C 92 E/173)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1987/02

by Carlos Lage (PSE) to the Commission

(1 July 2002)

Subject: Free movement of persons within the Schengen area

On 22 June 2002, a group of some 500 Portuguese citizens who were on their way to Spain to take part
in an authorised demonstration on the fringe of the European Council meeting in Seville were prevented (cid:1)
by violent means (cid:1) from entering Spanish territory by members of the police. This incident occurred in
the border locality of Vila Verde do Ficalho, in the Alentejo, and involved repressive actions by the Spanish
authorities, who used truncheons against and manhandled members of the group of Portuguese citizens
(among them a Member of the Assembly of the Republic), whose sole offence was to ask why they were
not being allowed to cross the frontier. Spanish police offers even boarded the buses transporting the
group and confiscated photographic and other visual material. There is no justification for procedures and
actions of this nature, which are totally unacceptable in a Union which includes respect for fundamental
rights and freedoms among its founding principles (cid:1) not even under the national security considerations