WRITTEN QUESTION P-1987/02 by Carlos Lage (PSE) to the Commission. Free movement of persons within the Schengen area.
Date: 2002-07-01
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

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Official Journal of the European Union

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which may be invoked by all signatory states to the Schengen Agreement under its Article 2 to re-establish
controls at its internal frontiers. There is no reason to suppose that this group of Portuguese citizens
embodied any special threat, or indeed any threat at all, to the Spanish state; and even if that were the
case, it is under no circumstances acceptable, whether in Spain, Portugal or any other EU Member State,
for the authorities to react in so forcible and heavy-handed a fashion as the Spanish police did in this case.

What action does the Commission intend to take, in its role as guardian of the Treaties, to ensure that in
future the freedoms (especially freedom of movement and freedom to demonstrate) and the fundamental
rights of European citizens are not called in question as happened in this incident?

Joint answer
to Written Questions P-1975/02 and P-1987/02
given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(25 July 2002)

Article 2 (2) of the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement stipulates that Member States can
reintroduce border checks for a limited period where public policy or national security so require. This is
done under exceptional circumstances, as a preventive measure to avoid the risk that people take
advantage of free movement in order to endanger the public order or the public security of a Member
State, notably when a demonstration is planned to take place there.

Border controls shall be carried out according to existing Community law in the field of free movement of
Union citizens. In this respect it must be recalled that the right to free movement, conferred by the Treaty
on the European Union to each citizen of the Union, can be restricted on grounds of public policy, public
security or public health.

Measures taken on these grounds shall be based exclusively on the personal conduct of the individual
concerned and be motivated by a present and sufficiently serious threat affecting one of the fundamental
interests of society. Moreover, such measures must be applied in accordance with the principle of
proportionality.

There is no doubt that citizens have the right to freely express their opinion and to assemble peacefully,
rights reflected in the European Convention on Human Rights and in the Union Charter of Fundamental
Rights. They must therefore be able to enjoy these rights without a threat to their security, to other
people’s security or to property. Member States are sometimes faced with the fact that people abuse these
rights by taking advantage of legitimate public demonstrations to carry out acts of violence.

The Commission recalls that the primary responsibility for the maintenance of law and order lies with the
Member States.

According to the above-mentioned provision, Member States can decide to introduce border checks for a
limited period where public policy or national security so require. It depends thus on the assessment of
Member States, whether border checks will be reintroduced during future summits.

(2003/C 92 E/174)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2011/02

by Hans-Peter Martin (PSE) to the Council

(2 July 2002)

Subject: Number and scale of Council meetings

A debate is taking place on the number and scale of Council meetings and portfolio-specific Councils.

Does the Council Presidency think that there are too many or too few Council meetings in general and/or
portfolio-specific Council meetings in particular?

What changes in this connection would the Council Presidency welcome?

Is the Council Presidency satisfied with the frequency and duration of attendance by heads of government
and/or portfolio ministers?