WRITTEN QUESTION E-2028/03 by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Greek customs authorities' unnecessarily lengthy procedure of collecting up EU citizens' passports at the border with Macedonia, a procedure that is also open to fraud.
Date: 2003-06-18
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Commission, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, abuse of power, border control, carriage of passengers, customs profession, exchange of information, rail transport

21.11.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 280 E/187

The Commission has concluded that, as mentioned before,

it has not found evidence of
5. and 6.
activities that indicate a possible infringement of public procurement legislation or relevant provisions of
the EC-treaty. This conclusion is based on all of the information provided by the Honourable Member.
The Commission, as guardian of the EC-treaty, shall however not hesitate to take action under Article 226
of the EC-treaty in case new evidence should provide proof for possible breaches of this legislation.

(2003/C 280 E/204)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2028/03

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(18 June 2003)

Subject: Greek customs authorities’ unnecessarily lengthy procedure of collecting up EU citizens’ passports

at the border with Macedonia, a procedure that is also open to fraud

Is the Commission aware that in trains from Greece to Skopje in Macedonia and Belgrade in Serbia
1.
the passports of nationals of other EU Member States are collected up shortly after leaving Thessaloniki by
a person who is not recognisable as a Greek government official, and passengers are merely told that their
passports can be collected later from the police?

2.
Is the Commission also aware that at the police station in the Greek border town of Idomeni, where
the passports can be collected, nothing whatsoever is done with the passports and they are merely given
back after a waiting period?

Does the Commission agree with me that maintaining a procedure, which was also in force many
3.
years ago at this border, involves the risk of passports being collected by unauthorised persons, or of one
or more passports from the large number collected by an authorised person being lost, or of unattended
luggage left behind in the train being stolen?

Are citizens of EU Member States in fact allowed to hand over their passports to a person who is not

4.
recognisable as an authorised official or are they entitled to refuse to do so?

5. What is the point of this procedure other than the fact that requiring passengers to disembark and
wait generates customers for the duty-free shops in Idomeni station or that it delays traffic with a
neighbouring country whose name is considered undesirable?

6. What action can the EU take to speed up and normalise passports checks at this border, in particular
for EU citizens? What is the Commission doing to facilitate a solution?

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(16 July 2003)

The Commission has no knowledge of the facts referred to by the Honourable Member. It has asked the
Member State concerned for information and will inform the Honourable Member of its findings.

(2003/C 280 E/205)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2030/03

by Jaime Valdivielso de Cué (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(12 June 2003)

Subject: Geographical toll

The French authorities have announced their intention to levy a new ‘geographical’ tax on all heavy goods
vehicles within the country’s territory, over and above the motorway tolls already paid there.