WRITTEN QUESTION E-0579/03 by Frank Vanhecke (NI) to the Commission. Distribution of seats in the European Parliament.
Date: 2003-02-28
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU Member State, European Parliament, European election, allocation of seats, parliamentary seat

C 11 E/94

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

15.1.2004

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(18 March 2003)

The Netherlands submitted a request to repeal the current suspension for colour cathode-ray tubes with a
diagonal measurement of the screen of 85,5 centimeter (cm) or more on the basis that a production of
similar tubes will start in Durham, United Kingdom, creating a significant number of new jobs.

Autonomous tariff suspensions and their repeal are adopted by the Council with qualified majority on the
basis of a proposal from the Commission. At present no decision has been taken on the request submitted
by the Dutch authorities and, consequently, no proposal has been submitted in this respect to the Council.
The Commission will decide on this issue in accordance with the principals set out in its ‘Communication
concerning autonomous tariff suspensions and quotas’ (1).

In this context the Commission would like to draw the attention of the Honourable Member to point 3.2
of the Communication which states that ‘unless the Community interest dictates otherwise no suspension
will be proposed where identical, equivalent or substitute products are manufactured in sufficient
quantities within the Community’. Point 3.3. of the same Communication mentions that where there is
some Community production but such production is insufficient to meet the requirements of all the
relevant processing or manufacturing companies, tariff quotas (limited to the unavailable quantities) or
partial tariff suspensions may be granted. Nevertheless, the same point 3.3 says ‘in this connection, account
will be taken, where appropriate, of consequential damage to any new production and of any
manufacturing capacity which could be made available in the Community’.

At present the Commission is still examining all substantiated information and has asked some Member
States to provide further documentation on this question. Its decision on this issue will be made in due
course after a careful evaluation of the request and a detailed discussion with the experts of the Member
States.

(1) OJ C 128, 25.4.1998.

(2004/C 11 E/097)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0579/03

by Frank Vanhecke (NI) to the Commission

(28 February 2003)

Subject: Distribution of seats in the European Parliament

At the Brussels and Copenhagen European Councils a framework agreement was negotiated on the future
allocation of seats in the European Parliament after the enlargement of the Union. Up to now Belgium has
had 25 seats, 14 of which were for the electoral district of Flanders, 11 for that of Wallonia. After the
enlargement Belgium will have only 22 seats. As a transitional arrangement, however, pending the
accession of Bulgaria and Romania, it is planned that there will be a gradual adjustment in the number of
seats to which the present Member States will be entitled at next year’s European elections. Various
newspapers have reported that Belgium will still be given 24 seats at the 2004 European elections, and
that this number will be reduced to 22 only at the 2009 elections.

Can the Commission indicate how many seats the present Member States will be given at the elections in
June 2004 and 2009?

Has the Commission given any recommendations to the Member States as to any proportional distribution
of seats among the various electoral districts to be made in each Member State?

15.1.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 11 E/95

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(2 April 2003)

It results from the Nice Treaty and the Treaty of Accession due to be signed on 16 April 2003 in Athens
that the number of members of the European Parliament to be elected in each of the present Member
States in 2004 shall be as follows:

(cid:1) Belgium: 24;

(cid:1) Denmark: 14;

(cid:1) Germany: 99;

(cid:1) Greece: 24;

(cid:1) Spain: 54;

(cid:1) France: 78;

(cid:1) Ireland: 13;

(cid:1) Italy: 78;

(cid:1) Luxembourg: 6;

(cid:1) Netherlands: 27;

(cid:1) Austria: 18;

(cid:1) Portugal: 24;

(cid:1) Finland: 14;

(cid:1) Sweden: 19;

(cid:1) United Kingdom: 78.

These figures will not change until further modification of the relevant Treaty articles. With a view to the
possible accession of more Member States at a later stage, the allocation of seats in a Union of more than
25 Member States will have to be determined in a future accession treaty, taking account of the provisions
and principles established by the Nice Treaty.

The Commission has not given any recommendation to the Member States as to the distribution of seats
within each Member State.

(2004/C 11 E/098)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0590/03

by Marco Pannella (NI) to the Commission

(24 February 2003)

Subject: Violation by the Cambodian Government of

the UN Refugee Convention in the case of

Montagnards (Dega) fleeing persecution by the Vietnamese government

Knowing that:

(cid:1) despite repeated requests and pressure from the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) and the US embassy in Phnom Penh, the Cambodian government is continuing to
violate the UN Refugee Convention and the fundamental rights of hundreds of Montagnards (Dega)
fleeing persecution by the Vietnamese government, after closure of the refugee camps in the Ratanakri
and Mondulkiri regions. In recent months there has also been evidence of forced repatriation of
hundreds of Montagnard refugees, of whom nothing more has been heard;

(cid:1) on 20 December the Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen signed Sub-decree 124 ordering a further
600 members of the police force to be posted to control the border between Cambodia and Vietnam.
The head of UNHCR’s liaison office in Cambodia, Nikola Mihajlovic, has said that this measure has