WRITTEN QUESTION P-2249/03 by Pedro Marset Campos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Situation of workers at the Sintel company (Spain).
Date: 2003-07-01
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Spain, bankruptcy, collective agreement, competence of the Member States, labour law, social partners, telecommunications industry, worker consultation

C 51 E/232

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

26.2.2004

(2004/C 51 E/251)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2249/03

by Pedro Marset Campos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

Subject: Situation of workers at the Sintel company (Spain)

(1 July 2003)

Although it is now almost two years since they accepted the government’s offer and conditions (agreement
of 3 August 2001) designed to facilitate the introduction of a package of measures to resolve the crisis at
Sintel with the involvement of all the parties concerned, the workers at the bankrupt Sintel company
remain as defenceless now as they were when the crisis first arose.

The workers’ legal representatives have still not been invited to meet with receivers, the government or the
Telefónica telecommunications company, as a party involved in the bankruptcy procedure, given that the
workers are the main creditors. Without the participation of the workers it is difficult to see how the
agreement can be implemented.

It has been two years since bankruptcy was declared (by order of 28 May 2001) and yet no meeting of
creditors has as yet been called to appoint official receivers, thereby making it impossible for the workers
to exercise their rights as creditors. Many aspects of the agreement have not been complied with and the
workers’ rights have not been upheld.

1.

Is the Commission aware of this situation?

Does it not believe that the Spanish Government ought to ensure compliance with the agreement

2.
reached with the workers at Sintel?

3. Will it say what action the EU is taking with regard to the Sintel case and the apparent failure on the
part of the Spanish Government to honour the agreement?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(31 July 2003)

The agreement reached between the companies concerned and the Spanish government on the one hand
and the representatives of workers at the Sintel company on the other hand is governed by Spanish law.
The Commission is therefore unable to comment on the application of the agreement, and it is the task of
the competent Spanish authorities to ensure compliance with it.

(2004/C 51 E/252)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2254/03

by Piia-Noora Kauppi (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Email: EU measures to eliminate spam

(8 July 2003)

Spam has in recent years become an ever-worsening problem on a worldwide scale. It now already
accounts for over half of all email traffic, and as many as 9 billion spam messages can flood the Internet in
a single day. FiCom, the Finnish telecommunications and information technology umbrella organisation,
estimates that European companies lost EUR 2,5 billion last year because of spam. The problem is both
economically costly and very irritating for users of wireless communication services in particular.

How will the Commission ensure that the growing spam problem is effectively solved as quickly as
possible and hence that the nuisances caused are appreciably reduced? How has it dealt with the huge
spam problem in its projected EU information technology and electronic communications legislation?
Have, for example, the challenges posed by spam been taken sufficiently into account for the purposes of
the forthcoming revision of the European data protection directives? Does the Commission have a
programme of measures to eliminate spam? Does it think that the spam problem can be tackled using new
technology?