WRITTEN QUESTION E-1721/03 by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Exclusion of destinations in Greece from the range of international tickets sold by railway companies in other EU Member States.
Date: 2003-05-23
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Austria, Germany, Greece, consumer information, international transport, organisation of transport, rail transport, ticket, transport user

C 33 E/158

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

6.2.2004

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(16 July 2003)

As the Honourable Member has pointed out, 2004 has been designated ‘European Year of Education
through Sport’ in order to highlight the educational and social values of sport, as set out in the Helsinki
Report (1) and the Nice Declaration (2).

The aim of the European Year of Education through Sport is to strengthen the partnerships between the
worlds of education and sport and the public authorities, with a view to promoting education, health
protection and retraining in other fields for young sportspeople. In addition, under the preparatory actions
relating to sport, the Commission is going to finance studies under budget heading B3-1026 to analyse
sport’s impact on education and the role of sporting activities in establishing a balance in young people’s
lives. The results of all of these actions will be taken into account by the Commission in developing the
new generation of education and youth programmes. Certain conclusions could also be taken into account
with a view to giving sporting activities a greater role in other Community policies.

In response to the Honourable Member’s second question, the Commission would like to express its
concern regarding the issues raised. With regard to physical and emotional abuse, Council Directive 94/33/
EC of 22 June 1994 on the protection of young people at work (3) addresses these issues. According to
Article 5 of this Directive, Member States lay down the working conditions for children, for example in the
case of sport. It is therefore up to Member States to make use of this Directive to intervene in the event of
dangers concerning young people who are involved in professional sport.

Various initiatives have been taken at Community level to tackle the sexual abuse of children in general.
The sexual exploitation of children is therefore prohibited according to the EU Charter of Fundamental
Rights. Furthermore, a political agreement was reached in the Council in October 2002 on a framework
decision concerning the prevention of sexual exploitation and child pornography. The Community is also
funding projects designed to tackle the sexual exploitation of children via its AGIS and Daphne
programmes.

(1) Report from the Commission to the European Council with a view to safeguarding current sports structures and

maintaining the social function of sport within the Community framework, COM (644/99), 1.12.1999.

(2) OJ C 80, 10.3.2001.
(3) OJ L 216, 20.8.1994.

(2004/C 33 E/155)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1721/03

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(23 May 2003)

Subject: Exclusion of destinations in Greece from the range of

international

tickets sold by railway

companies in other EU Member States

1.
Is the Commission aware that direct through train services from Germany and Austria to Greece,
which were suspended during the wars in the former Yugoslav federation, have now been partly restored
but it is not possible to reserve seats or sleeping-berths from other countries and is therefore necessary to
change in Ljubljana or Belgrade?

2.
Is the Commission aware that after the recent resumption of direct services, some cities such as
Thessaloniki and Athens in Greece were deleted from the computers of railway companies in other EU
Member States, so that it is no longer possible to buy train tickets to these destinations?

3.
Does the Commission realise that the fact that normal international through rail tickets are no longer
obtainable is particularly damaging for overland connections to Thessaloniki in the north of Greece, which,
unlike Athens, has no ferry connection with Italy?

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Official Journal of the European Union

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Is such a restriction on using overland public transport compatible with the increasing integration
4.
taking place between EU Member States? Is it acceptable that Greece should be put at an exceptional
disadvantage by making its connections with the outside world entirely dependent on air and sea
transport?

Can the Commission push for the resumption of the sale of international rail tickets to Greece from

5.
other Member States is resumed?

6.
Is the Commission prepared to take action to ensure that within the EU area at least major cities,
including Member State capitals and second largest cities with a railway connection to the border, continue
to be or are once again included among the destinations for which rail tickets are on sale in other Member
States?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(9 July 2003)

The Commission was not aware of the specific conditions under which the rail services between Germany
and Greece were resumed after the end of the conflict in former Yugoslavia.

The Commission was not aware of the fact that specific destinations in Greece were no longer available in
the Computerised Reservation Systems used by the railway undertakings in Europe. However, the website
of the German Railway Undertaking Deutsche Bahn (DB) (1) shows time-table information for a journey
between e.g. Munich and Athens. It does not show information on available fares and conditions which is
It must be observed, however, that the
unfortunately the case for many international rail
conditions under which tickets for railway trips are marketed and sold, fall under the management
independence of railway undertakings, as provided for in Directive 91/440/EEC (2), unless public service
obligations or contracts concluded under conditions defined by Regulation (EEC) No 1191/69 (3) provide
otherwise.

journeys.

Furthermore, the Commission has announced in its Workprogramme 2003 to table a proposal for a
Regulation on Passengers’ Rights and Obligations in International Rail Services. One of the issues to be
addressed in this Regulation is the pre-trip information to be provided to consumers, which include the
information on time tables, fares and access conditions for scheduled, international rail services. This was
one of the issues identified in a Consultation Document drafted by the Commission’s services in 2002 in
order to obtain a comprehensive overview of
the current problems in relation to the Rights and
Obligations of Passengers on International Rail services (4). The proposal for this Regulation will, therefore,
include provisions requiring that Computerised Reservations Systems, regardless its ownership, accept (cid:1)
upon request and under equal conditions (cid:1) the inclusion of information on railway services from other
railway undertakings. Furthermore, railway undertakings offering rail passenger services between major
railway stations are obliged to co-operate in offering throughtickets on a single transport contract to
passengers. These provisions however are also dependent on the adoption of the Technical Specifications
of Interoperability for passenger Telematics as foreseen by Directive 2001/16/EC (5).

Finally, the Commission would like to refer to the initiative deployed by the International Union of
Railways (UIC) to develop an information system, which contains information on all the rail services
offered by its members. According to the UIC, this system (cid:1) Merits (cid:1) has become operational in 2003.
Furthermore, the UIC has started the development of a reservation and ticketing system (Prifis). The
Commission will carefully monitor the implementation of this Computerised Reservation System, notably
to ensure its accessibility for information on all railway services as well
its compliance with the
competition provisions of the Union.

(1) See: http://www.bahn.de.
(2) Directive 91/440/EEC of 29 July 1991of 29 July 1991 on the development of the Community’s railways, OJ L 237,
24.8.1991, as amended by Directive 2001/12/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2001, OJ L 75,
15.3.2001.

(3) Regulation (EEC) No 1191/69 of the Council of 26 June 1969 on action by Member States concerning the
obligations inherent in the concept of a public service in transport by rail, road and inland waterway, OJ L 156,
28.6.1969, as amended by Council Regulation (EEC) No 1893/91 of 20 June 1991, OJ L 169, 29.6.1991.
For the full text of this document, see: http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/rail/passenger/doc/cd-en.pdf.

(4)
(5) Directive 2001/16/EC of 19 March 2001 of the Parliament and of the Council on the interoperability of the trans-

European conventional rail system, OJ L 110, 20.4.2001.