WRITTEN QUESTION P-0433/03 by Francesco Speroni (NI) to the Commission. Obstacles to the free movement of workers and to competition in the taxi business.
Date: 2003-02-12
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU law, competition law, drivers, free movement of workers, right of establishment, taxi

15.1.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 11 E/87

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(2 April 2003)

The Union Action Plan on Drugs 2000 (cid:1) 2004 states that the Member States should provide a wide
variety of treatment services for drug users and treatment to those addicts seeking it within a reasonable
time. It also asks the Member States to intensify their efforts to provide measures for health related damage
in prisons and on release from prisons.

The prison population is one of the key target groups, since a high part of the population are drug users.
According to the latest information from the Annual Report of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs
and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) 2002, where drug use in prison was a special theme, drug use prevalence
varies between 29 (cid:1) 86 % of the inmates. The amount of injecting users can be as high as 69 % and up to
34 % report having injected in the prison.

While there is no specific Community programme for drugs and prisons, the Commission has funded
networks developing these activities through the Community programme on drug prevention.

Furthermore, a Resolution of the Representatives of Member States, meeting within the Council, on the
treatment of drug abusers in prison was adopted in February 2003. This Resolution calls upon Member
States to consider adherence to various principles related to drug abusers in prison. These principles
include, among others, that Member States should give the highest priority to keep drugs out of prison and
that they should provide incarcerated drug abusers access to the social, health and rehabilitation services
provided for non-criminal drug abusers.

The system for organising the services varies from one Member State to another, most of them have
already organised drug services in prisons and/or are offering drug users treatment as an alternative for a
prison sentence.

Based on the information provided to the EMCDDA it is apparent that the existing Greek legislation allows
for services to be available for drug users in prisons. The Commission welcomes initiatives taken in this
field like the integrated programme for psychosocial rehabilitation of drug dependent inmates in Koridallos
Women’s Prison and the demand reduction interventions by Kethea, the Addiction Detoxification Unit of
the Athens Psychiatric Hospital, Narcotics Anonymous, Médecins Sans Frontières Greece and Médecins du
Monde Greece. The Commission also welcomes the setting up of the Drug Dependence Treatment Centres
for Drug Addicted Prisoners, the first of which started its operation in September 2002 in Eleonas.

(2004/C 11 E/091)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0433/03

by Francesco Speroni (NI) to the Commission

(12 February 2003)

Subject: Obstacles to the free movement of workers and to competition in the taxi business

Why can a dentist from Paris exercise his profession in Milan, whereas a taxi driver from the former city is
unable to ply his trade in the latter?

Is this state of affairs compatible with the rules on the free movement of workers and on competition?

C 11 E/88

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

15.1.2004

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(7 March 2003)

Article 39 of the EC Treaty guarantees the right for nationals of the Member States to move freely within
the territory of the Member States for work. For self-employed persons the freedom of establishment is laid
down in Article 43 of the EC Treaty. It guarantees the right to take up and pursue activites as self-
employed persons and to set up and manage undertakings under the conditions laid down for its own
nationals by the law of the Member State where such establishment is effected.

On the basis of the question received, the Commission does not know to which difficulties encountered by
taxi drivers when moving to another Member State for work the Honourable Member is referring to. If the
Honourable Member has any concrete cases of non-compliance with Community-law, he is invited to send
them to the Commission to be examined by its services.

(2004/C 11 E/092)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0468/03

by Juan Naranjo Escobar (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(20 February 2003)

Subject: Community productivity

One of the fundamental objectives of the Lisbon strategy is to increase the EU’s productivity.

The European Union’s low productivity, combined with a high rate of unemployment and the worrying
slowness in technological
is putting the Union’s economy at a competitive disadvantage
compared with the US and Japan.

innovation,

There are important research centres in the Member States which are studying and carefully considering
the issue of productivity, and their reflections should help us to adopt proposals to improve the
Community’s productivity.

Does the Commission consider that we are taking full advantage of the information provided by these
centres?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(25 March 2003)

The Commission pays close attention to the findings of research centres in the Member States and also to
those based in other parts of the world. Such research broadens the base of information which is used to
formulate policy. The Commission is in contact with these research centres through networks, seminars,
studies and reading the academic literature.

As regards productivity some examples of relevant research centres are the Groningen Growth and
Development Centre, the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) and the Commission’s own Joint
Research Centre which has an Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS). In particular, IPTS uses
external advisory groups, such as a group of eminent economists including Nobel Prize winner Robert
Solow, William Branson, David Ulph, Jean-Jaques Laffont and Christian von Weiszacker and also operates
a series of networks such as the European Science and Technology Observatory (ESTO) network which
draws on the expertise of more than 40 institutions including all the major European think-tanks. An
example of Commission contact with research centres is the Joint Research Centre’s upcoming workshop
on information and communication technology and productivity at which researchers from different
centres will be speaking and attending. They will discuss the possible contributions of information and
communications technologies to differences in productivity growth within Europe and between Europe
and the United States.