WRITTEN QUESTION E-1152/03 by Joke Swiebel (PSE) to the Council. Extortion against holidaymakers travelling through Bulgaria.
Date: 2003-04-01
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Bulgaria, EU national, European cooperation, agreement (EU), associated action for damages, civil servant, corruption, holiday

26.2.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 51 E/63

(2004/C 51 E/070)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1149/03

by Graham Watson (ELDR) to the Commission

(1 April 2003)

Subject: Seychelles

Recently, an Italian businessman was the victim of a violent aggression on the island of Mahé by a colonel
in the Seychelles armed forces.

Such violence is particularly harmful to the image of the islands.

As the Seychelles are a favourite destination for many European tourists, what measures is the European
Union willing to take to better protect its citizens?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(29 April 2003)

Unfortunately, violent aggressions towards tourists happen in tourist destinations all around the world and
even inside Europe. The Commission does not possess any evidence that attacks on tourists in the
Seychelles occurs regularly or are even driven by the Government. On the contrary, the Government
Tourism board is probably deeply embarrassed by the incident, since the man in question was involved in
promoting tourism in Seychelles. This isolated incident of ‘road rage’ is not an issue where the Commission
can usefully intervene.

(2004/C 51 E/071)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1152/03

by Joke Swiebel (PSE) to the Council

(1 April 2003)

Subject: Extortion against holidaymakers travelling through Bulgaria

In recent years, Netherlands residents have very regularly been the victims of extortion and other
fraudulent practices by government officials while in transit through Bulgaria on the way to Turkey during
the summer holidays. Sums of money are taken from them in various ways, including in the guise of tolls
or fines, or for ‘visas’ at the border. A file containing accounts confirming the existence of such practices,
compiled by the Netherlands Foundation entitled ‘Participation Body for Turks in the Netherlands’, will be
forwarded to you.

I believe that the Council is sufficiently aware of this problem, since the Spanish Presidency brought it to
the attention of the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry in May 2002. I also gather that EU countries’ consuls in
Bulgaria are holding or have held consultations to raise this problem with the Bulgarian authorities.

In a few months it will be the summer holidays again and many people will be wanting to travel to Turkey
via Bulgaria and the Balkans. Can the Council state what the outcome has been of the above-mentioned
consultations? What measures has the Council taken since then to bring the problem of extortion against
holiday-makers in Bulgaria to the attention of the relevant Bulgarian authorities? What solution has been
found to prevent yet more holidaymakers being the victim of such practices in future? What channels are
offered by the embassies and consulates of the EU countries in Bulgaria for hearing complaints and
referring people who have been cheated in this way to the Bulgarian courts where they may be able to
enter a claim for the money they have lost?

C 51 E/64

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

26.2.2004

Reply

(29 September 2003)

The Council shares the Honourable Member’s concern about the security of holidaymakers in Bulgaria.
The unfortunate incidents of recent years have given additional impetus to the pressure already being
exerted by the European Union in the course of its contacts with Bulgaria.

Although the Council cannot itself conduct inquiries into individual cases, it does indirectly play a role by
monitoring the degree of candidate countries’ alignment on the JHA ‘acquis’, including as regards absence
of the rule of law. The Council has been informed that the Bulgarian authorities have to date adopted a
number of anti-corruption measures the implementation of which is being monitored by both the Council
and the Commission and will continue to be so monitored until the date of accession (1). Progress in this
respect was also acknowledged in the Commission’s 2002 regular report on Bulgaria’s progress towards
accession.

In the framework of the Europe Agreement with Bulgaria, the negotiations on enlargement, and the
Accession Partnership with Bulgaria, the Commission and the Member States have repeatedly urged
Bulgaria to take the necessary measures to prevent incidents such as those referred to by the Honourable
Member. The recently presented proposal for a Council decision on the principles, priorities, intermediate
objectives and conditions contained in the Accession Partnership with Bulgaria (2) for example, urges
authorities to ‘enhance combating corruption in law enforcement bodies by (…) developing a corrupt
practices prevention programme as well as a code of ethics for officials in the Ministry of the Interior, in
particular traffic and border police (…).’

The Union will continue to monitor developments in this field, notably in the framework of the bodies
created by the Europe Agreement (Association Council, Association Committee and Sub-Committees).

Finally, it is of interest in this respect to recall that within the 2002 PHARE programme, one of the four
anti-corruption projects approved deals specifically with corruption within police forces.

(1) The Inspectorate has set up a Division within the Ministry of the Interior to deal specifically with corruption.
A separate section of the NSCOC investigates possible corruption-based connections between members of public
and local administrations and organised crime groups. The National Police Service has developed a Counter
Economic Crime Programme 2000-2006, which envisages measures against corruption-related crime. The Border
police has launched several measures to combat corruption: there is an anonymous hot line telephone number, a
mailbox for passengers wishing to make a complaint about the border police and there is a specialised unit
responsible for the prevention and detection of corrupt practices.

(2) COM(2003) 142 final of 26 March 2003.

(2004/C 51 E/072)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1172/03

by Rolf Linkohr (PSE) to the Commission

(25 March 2003)

Subject: EU citizens advice in the Member States

The Commission has set up the Eurojus network (with citizens advice bureaux in each of the Member
States) where the public can obtain advice on their rights under European law. This initiative has been very
well received. The European Union’s information leaflets refer explicitly to these citizens advice centres.
Despite this very positive outcome, the offices in some Member States are not staffed or (cid:1) as in Germany
(cid:1) have repeatedly been closed for a period of several months because of administrative problems in the
Commission. This has already annoyed many members of the public.