WRITTEN QUESTION E-2158/02 by Mihail Papayannakis (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Civilian mobilisation.
Date: 2002-07-18
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, Greece, application of EU law, freedom of assembly, requisitioning of workers, right to strike

C 309 E/204

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

12.12.2002

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(27 August 2002)

Council Directive 93/104/EC of 23 November 1993 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of
working time (1) applies to all workers within the scope of Article 2 of Directive 89/391/EEC (2).

Directive 93/104/EC does not contain a definition of the term ‘worker’. The applicable definition is found
in Article 3(a) of Directive 89/391/EEC, which states that ‘any person employed by an employer, including
trainees and apprentices but excluding domestic servants’ must be considered to be a worker.

In so far as ‘volunteers’ are considered to be ‘workers’ under national law, they are covered by both these
Directives.

However, with regard to directives laying down minimum standards, Community law does not prevent
Member States from applying their transposal legislation even to ‘volunteers’ who are not considered to be
workers.

(1) OJ L 307, 13.12.1993.
(2) Council Directive 89/391/EEC of 12 June 1989 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the

safety and health of workers at work, OJ L 183, 29.6.1989.

(2002/C 309 E/235)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2158/02

by Mihail Papayannakis (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(18 July 2002)

Subject: Civilian mobilisation

A few days ago the Greek Government announced ‘civilian mobilisation’ for sailors in a move to quell
strike action by them.

Civilian mobilisation:

(cid:1) infringes the essence of the right to personal freedom (Article 5 of the Constitution),

(cid:1) contradicts Article 22(4) of the Constitution, which prohibits any kind of forced labour,

(cid:1) violates the European Convention on Human Rights,

(cid:1) contravenes International Labour Convention No 105, which was ratified by Greece in 1961,

(cid:1) is permitted, under the Constitution, only in cases where the country must be defended or where there
is an urgent necessity caused by natural disasters or public health dangers; strike action does not fall
into these categories,

(cid:1) fundamentally contravenes certain articles of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, specifically:

(cid:1) Article 5 (cid:1) ‘No one shall be required to perform forced or compulsory labour’;

(cid:1) Article 6 (cid:1) ‘Everyone has the right to liberty’;

(cid:1) Article 12 (cid:1) ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly … in particular in political

and trade union matters’.

12.12.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 309 E/205

Greek governments have in fact made use of the practice of ‘civilian mobilisation’ more than ten times
since 1981, and always for the same purpose. In view of the above, could the Commission examine how
far the use of ‘civilian mobilisation’ to quell strikes complies with the Charter of Fundamental Rights and
the various Community statements and proclamations on the rights of workers and social dialogue?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(11 September 2002)

The Honourable Member is referred to the answer given by the Commission to oral question H-0596/02
by Mr Alyssandrakis during question time at Parliament’s September I 2002 session (1).

(1) Written answer on 3.9.2002.

(2002/C 309 E/236)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2172/02

by Paulo Casaca (PSE) to the Commission

(18 July 2002)

Subject: Respect for the principle of annuality

Amending budgets 2 and 3 relating to the Commission budget for 2002 return to the Member States own
resources from 2001.

Has the Commission ascertained that, in recording its public accounts, Portugal has respected the principle
of annuality, deducting this expenditure in 2001?

Can the Commission also say whether it took care to ascertain that tax revenue for the financial year 2001
was booked to that year and not to 2002?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(17 September 2002)

The precise moment when the transactions referred to by the Honourable Member should be accrued
under the European System of Integrated Economic Accounts (ESA) rules is a complex issue on which
there is some room for interpretation. The Commission is currently examining this very technical question
with the competent authorities in the Member States.

Regulation (EC) No 2516/2000 of the Parliament and of the Council of 7 November 2000 modifying the
common principles of the European system of national and regional accounts in the Community (ESA) 95
as concerns taxes and social contributions and amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 (1), states
that taxes and social contributions recorded in the accounts may be derived from two sources: amounts
evidenced by assessment and declarations or cash receipts. If assessments and declarations are used, the
amounts shall be adjusted by a coefficient reflecting assessed and declared amounts never collected. If cash
receipts are used, they shall be time-adjusted so that the cash is attributed when the activity took place to
generate the liability.

A derogation on the implementation of this Regulation was granted to the Portuguese authorities until
30 June 2002. The derogation has now come to an end and the Portuguese authorities will now decide
which method will be implemented. On 25 July 2002, a Task Force entrusted with the analysis of
Portuguese public finance in 2001 presented its report. As regards the recording of taxes and social
contributions, the Task Force chose the cash basis method, which in the case of VAT taxes will be time-
adjusted. This recording method will be used in the September 2002 Excessive deficit procedure (EDP)
notification.

(1) OJ L 290, 17.11.2000.