WRITTEN QUESTION E-1233/03 by Miquel Mayol i Raynal (Verts/ALE) to the Council. Closure of Euskaldunon Egunkaria.
Date: 2003-04-02
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Basque Country, competence of the Member States, freedom of expression, freedom of the press, judicial proceedings, newspaper, public safety, rights of the defence, terrorism

26.2.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 51 E/67

(2004/C 51 E/075)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1233/03

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

(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 Council consider that the Spanish authorities have violated inalienable principles of the ‘acquis
communautaire’?

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

Reply

(2 October 2003)

The Council invites the Honourable Member to refer to the reply it gave to Written Question E-800/03
put by Mr Koldo Gorostiago Atxalandabaso on the same subject.

(2004/C 51 E/076)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1245/03

by Antonio Di Pietro (ELDR) to the Commission

(2 April 2003)

Subject: Construction of a dump for red mud produced by bauxite processing in the Sea of Portoscuso

(Cagliari), Sardinia

On 28 May 2002, Eurallumina SpA, a company that annually produces over one million tonnes of
aluminium oxide and treats around two million tonnes of bauxite using the Bayer process, producing some
one million tonnes of ‘red mud’ per year, submitted a plan for the construction of a new dump (roughly
80 ha in surface area and 18 m high, with a total volume of 13 m m3) to the Region of Sardinia and the
City of Portoscuso. Red mud is a waste product whose high alkalinity is caused by the presence of residual
sodium carbonate (initially 12 pH, falling to 10,5 pH when treated with sulphuric acid and water). The
dump is to be situated in the sea opposite the present red mud dump (120 ha), which is currently being
phased out of use.