WRITTEN QUESTION E-2065/03 by Maurizio Turco (NI), Marco Pannella (NI),Marco Cappato (NI), Benedetto Della Vedova (NI), Gianfranco Dell'Alba (NI)and Olivier Dupuis (NI) to the Commission. Belgian police operations on Dutch territory.
Date: 2003-06-20
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Belgium, Netherlands, cooperation agreement, drug traffic, fight against crime, police checks, police cooperation

C 70 E/74

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

20.3.2004

Which important projects have been carried out in Greece with EU co-funding since 1994 and are fully
operational (not those which are planned or still under construction)?

Is the Commission aware that almost half the network which carries water of the Mornos to Athens is
completely uncovered?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(5 August 2003)

The Drinking Water Directive (1) sets binding objectives for the quality of drinking water at the tap and on
regular monitoring of drinking water quality in the Union, but does not specify details of design,
construction and maintenance of water distribution systems. The Water Framework Directive (2) sets the
obligation to achieve good quality (’good status’)
lakes, coastal waters and
groundwaters) by 2015, but neither entails an obligation for drinking water supply nor for details of
design, construction and maintenance of water distribution systems.

for all waters (rivers,

For water supply infrastructure work the present period is that of the 2000-2006 Community Support
Framework prepared on the basis of a proposal from the Greek authorities. It indicates at strategy level the
investments needed to improve supply to the biggest towns in Greece. Some of this investment is now
being made.

In the previous period the ERDF financed a very large number of drinking water infrastructure projects
(water collection, boreholes, conduits, purification works and above all town and commune networks) that
are now completed and in operation. Since ERDF assistance is granted by programme and not by
individual project, the Commission asks the Honourable Members to approach the Greek authorities for
more detailed information on the actual projects. In the case of projects part-financed from the Cohesion
Fund among the large towns to benefit from new water supply investment are Larisa, Volos, Patra, Livadia,
Lamia, Naoussa, Khania and of course the cities of Athens (Evinos project) and Thessaloniki (Aliakmonas
project beginning commercial operation this month).

(1) Council Directive 98/83/EEC of 3 November 1998 on the quality of water intended for human consumption,

OJ L 330, 5.12.1998.

(2) Directive 2000/60/CE du Parlement et du Conseil du 23 octobre 2000 établissant un cadre pour une politique

communautaire dans le domaine de l’eau, OJ L 327, 22.12.2000.

(2004/C 70 E/077)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2065/03

by Maurizio Turco (NI), Marco Pannella (NI),
Marco Cappato (NI), Benedetto Della Vedova (NI), Gianfranco Dell’Alba (NI)
and Olivier Dupuis (NI) to the Commission

Subject: Belgian police operations on Dutch territory

(20 June 2003)

On Friday, 26 April 2003, an Italian citizen resident in Belgium was arrested at the railway station in the
town of Rosendaal in the Netherlands by a man in civilian clothing who discreetly presented himself as a
police officer (without saying from which country). The officer, after asking the person arrested whether he
had a train ticket and whether he had drugs in his possession (cannabis) and after being told that that was
the case, asked the man to board the train for Antwerp-Berchem. At that point the individual under arrest
was surrounded by at least five persons, all in civilian clothes, and put in the last first-class coach. He had
no sooner boarded the train, which was still in the station, when the police officers took all his personal
belongings,
including 13,2 g of cannabis bought for EUR 50 a few hours earlier at a coffee shop in
Rosendaal. He was then handcuffed. When the train arrived at Antwerp-Berchem station at about
7.15 p.m., he was handed over to the Belgian Federal Police and taken to the police station at Antwerp
Central railway station to be searched and questioned. While in the waiting room at the police station,
where questioning was taking place, he could hear shouting and ferocious sounds of fighting from inside.

20.3.2004

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Official Journal of the European Union

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After about a quarter of an hour, paramedics arrived; they left about a quarter of an hour later, carrying
the person questioned, who was unconscious, on a stretcher. According to some police officers, an
accident had occurred when that person had drawn a knife. The Italian citizen was then ushered in to the
interior of the police station, where he saw a policewoman cleaning a room covered in blood. He was
released at about 9 p.m. after a statement had been made.

Can the Commission say:

(cid:1) what type of agreement provides the basis for the Belgian police force to carry out such operations on

Dutch territory?

(cid:1) whether it is lawful for the Belgian police, on Dutch territory, to force an individual to board a train
to Belgium in order, subsequently, to accuse him of international drug smuggling, and whether it is
lawful for the Belgian police to question a foreign citizen on Dutch territory in connection with an
offence punishable in Belgium on the assumption of intent to commit that offence?

(cid:1) whether it has information about the ‘accident’ which occurred at about 8 p.m. on 26 April 2003 at

the police station at Anvers Central railway station?

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(5 August 2003)

The Commission would like to inform the Honourable Members that it is not aware of the incidents
related in their written question and that it, therefore, can not comment.

Since the case apparently involves the Belgian police, the Commission has informed the Belgian federal
authorities about the question. The Commission judges it more appropriate for the Honourable Members
to address the Belgian authorities themselves in order to get more information about the case.

The only information which the Commission can provide at this stage is that co-operation agreements
exist between Belgium and the Netherlands, which allow police of both Member States to undertake
controls on the territory of the other Member State, particularly in the field of the fight against drug
trafficking.

(2004/C 70 E/078)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2114/03

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(25 June 2003)

Subject: Exclusion of visitors other than invited guests, government officials and businessmen from non-EU

European states with a low standard of living

1.
Is it part of the standard arrangements in the EU and the Schengen Agreement countries for their
embassies in non-EU European states with a low standard of living to require the inhabitants of those
countries to produce the following documents in support of a visa application before every visit:

(a)

the original of a recent pay slip,

(b) evidence of agreement from the applicant’s employer,

(c) proof of return travel if travelling by air,

(d) an invitation from a guarantor in the host country,

(e) proof of the professional need for the visit,

(f)

travel insurance approved by the embassy concerned?

2.
Is it also part of these standard arrangements that applicants can be made to wait for a long period
and that the payment they made in advance of the application is not refunded if the visa application is
turned down?