WRITTEN QUESTION E-1226/03 by Freddy Blak (GUE/NGL)and Anne Jensen (ELDR) to the Commission. Protection of drivers in the export trade against violent attack.
Date: 2003-04-02
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: area of freedom, security and justice, drivers, fight against crime, international road transport, piracy, public safety

C 33 E/98

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

6.2.2004

(2004/C 33 E/096)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1175/03

by Graham Watson (ELDR) to the Commission

(1 April 2003)

Subject: Digitalisation of historical databases

The e-learning framework needs to be compatible between countries and available online. Will the
Commission therefore extend to accession countries the assistance available to Member States to create
digital records of historical databases?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(4 June 2003)

The eLearning Initiative and its eLearning Action Plan do not offer assistance to Member States to create
digital records of databases.

The Commission does not currently fund specifically the creation of digital records of historical databases
level. Under the Fifth and Sixth
as this is considered to be a matter for initiatives at the national
Framework Programmes
Information Society
for Research and Technological Development,
Technologies (IST) programme has, however, provided incentives for coordination of digitisation work
and the development of digitisation systems and services. Indeed, the IST Minerva project managed under
the Cultural Heritage component of programme, provides a framework for the European cultural ministries
to coordinate digitisation results and, as such, is a useful source of evolving information in the area. It
provides assistance for the exchange of best practice between the 15 Member States and acts as a forum
for reviewing progress in the area and planning future activities. Under the Sixth Framework Programme’s
strategic objective ‘Technology Enhanced Learning and Access to Cultural Heritage’, the activity could be
extended to include the Accession Countries in accordance with the relevant procedures.

the

(2004/C 33 E/097)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1226/03

by Freddy Blak (GUE/NGL)
and Anne Jensen (ELDR) to the Commission

(2 April 2003)

Subject: Protection of drivers in the export trade against violent attack

At its meeting of 14 October 2001, the Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs of the Member States and
the candidate countries in association with the Commission adopted a declaration calling for appropriate
measures to protect drivers in the export trade against violent attack. What progress has the Commission
made in implementing such appropriate measures?

What progress have the Member States and the Commission made overall in their work to protect drivers
in the export trade against violent attack? Has the work so far resulted in any specific initiatives and/or
projects, and when can the results of their work be expected?

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(15 May 2003)

On 14 October 2002, the Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs of the Member States of the Union and
the candidate countries in association with the Commission adopted a joint declaration on the protection

6.2.2004

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 33 E/99

of commercial drivers engaged in export trade from becoming victims of organised crime (1). Pursuant to
the third paragraph of that joint declaration national or international surveys should be conducted in order
to map the incidents of crime directed at commercial drivers engaged in export trade and investigate the
nature and scale of the problem and the background to it in their respective countries. A joint declaration
has, however, no binding force upon the Member States

(1) OJ C 24, 31.1.2003.

(2004/C 33 E/098)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1234/03

by Miquel Mayol i Raynal (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(2 April 2003)

Subject: Closure of Euskaldunon Egunkaria

On Thursday 20 February this year the Basque newspaper Euskaldunon Egunkaria was closed down as a
precautionary measure by High Court Judge Juan del Olmo. In an unprecedented act since democracy
came to Spain, this judge, the Public Prosecutor and the Interior Minister himself drew up a joint press
statement supporting the closure of this periodical (cid:1) the only entirely Basque-language newspaper (cid:1)
because of alleged links to the ETA terrorist movement, based on some documents that were seized by the
national police in the 1990s. More than a month has passed since these events, and five of the ten people
who were arrested by judicial decree are still in detention, although no decisive and irrefutable evidence
has been provided of their links with the terrorist movement. Moreover, some of them have accused the
Spanish police authorities of torture, a detail which certainly does not make the path of peace in the
troubled Basque Country any easier. This action against one of the communications media has greatly
damaged the Basque language and culture and the citizens of this region, who are perplexed to observe
once again a kind of action more typical of the Franco era which still haunts people’s memories. The
Spanish Government should not overlook or underestimate the demonstrations of support and solidarity
that those who worked for this newspaper have received from various political groups, all kinds of
associations, trade unions, religious communities and many others in the whole Basque Country, Catalonia
and the rest of Europe.

The closure of Euskaldunon Egunkaria is of enormous significance and clearly affects a constitutional right,
the right of citizens to information, enshrined in Article 20 of the Spanish Constitution and Article 11 of
the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

Does the Commission consider that the Spanish authorities have violated inalienable principles of the
acquis communautaire?

Does the Commission consider that there has been a clear and repeated infringement of the presumption
of innocence?

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(5 May 2003)

The Commission would refer the Honourable Member to the answers to Written Questions E-0672/03 by
Mr Borghezio and E-0641/03 by Mr Ebner (1).

(1) OJ C 280 E, 21.11.2003, p. 75.