WRITTEN QUESTION E-2572/03 by Maurizio Turco (NI) to the Commission. Attacks on freedom of religion in Georgia affecting members of Pentecostal, Baptist, Catholic and Orthodox confessions and Jehovah's Witnesses.
Date: 2003-08-06
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU relations, Georgia, cooperation policy, freedom of religious beliefs, religious conflict, religious group

3.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 84 E/495

What steps are being taken by the European Commission to ensure a level playing field in the international
trade in eggs and in providing adequate compensation to European Union egg producers?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(12 September 2003)

The Commission would refer
Mrs Jackson (1)

(1) OJ C 33 E, 6.2.2004, p. 147.

the Honourable Member

to its answer

to written E-1625/03 by

(2004/C 84 E/0573)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2572/03

by Maurizio Turco (NI) to the Commission

(6 August 2003)

Subject: Attacks on freedom of religion in Georgia affecting members of Pentecostal, Baptist, Catholic and

Orthodox confessions and Jehovah’s Witnesses

Knowing that:

(cid:1) Over the last four years, religious minorities in Georgia have been subjected to unprecedented levels of

violence from ‘vigilantes’.

(cid:1) Members of Pentecostal, Baptist, Catholic, and Orthodox confessions, as well as Jehovah’s Witnesses,

have been attacked by mobs orchestrated by self-styled Orthodox ‘vigilantes’.

(cid:1) Over a hundred attacks on religious minorities have been identified in these four years, and the public
and the police are well aware of who their authors are; despite this, no-one has ever been prosecuted.

(cid:1) The religious violence in Georgia has been condemned by such figures as the Archbishop of

Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and by Pope John Paul II.

And considering that:

(cid:1) On 15 June 2003, in the village of Akhalsopeli, a Baptist church burnt down. The members of the
Baptist community deny the claim made by the Governor of East Georgia district that they set their
own church on fire. The villagers have threatened to deny the Baptists permission to rebuild their
church and to destroy it again if it is rebuilt.

(cid:1) On 13 July 2003,

in Tbilisi, Orthodox vigilantes prevented a Pentecostal church from holding
meetings for the sixth Sunday running, surrounding the house where the meeting was due to take
place and chanting ‘Russians, go back to Russia and do whatever you want there’. According to Pastor
Kalutsky, the demonstrators identified themselves as Orthodox and said their aim was to stop non-
Orthodox religious services from being held.

In view of the excellent relations of cooperation existing between the EU and Georgia, can the Commission
state whether it is aware of the above facts and indicate what initiatives, in the context of the cooperation
relationship, could constitute an effective and workable means of inducing Georgia to ensure respect for
freedom of religion?

C 84 E/496

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.4.2004

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(15 September 2003)

The Commission would refer the Honourable Member to its answer to his Written Question E-2257/03 (1).

(1) See page 483.

(2004/C 84 E/0574)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2681/03

by Robert Goebbels (PSE) to the Commission

(10 September 2003)

Subject: Approval of Luxembourg secondary school leaving certificates in Belgium

The Luxembourg Government’s website states that, following an intervention by the Commission, the
French Community of Belgium is reintroducing, as of 2003-2004, the obligation for holders of a
Luxembourg secondary or technical secondary school
leaving certificate or a Luxembourg technical
diploma to have them approved by the Belgian authorities before being allowed to enrol at universities and
other higher education institutions in Belgium.

the fact

In spite of
that Luxembourg students have never previously been confronted with this
administrative burden, it turns out that those wishing to enrol for the first time at a Belgian university
for the academic year 2003-2004, who have already sent off their documents, have not yet received an
approval of their secondary school leaving certificate from the French Community. This means there is a
chance that they may not be able to enrol in Belgium for the coming academic year, even though some of
the students have already paid out money in anticipation of beginning their studies (accommodation,
deposits, etc.).

Can the Commission provide information as to the exact situation?

Does it intend to contact the Belgian authorities so that the Luxembourg students concerned may register
at the right time?

Why are Luxembourg students now required to have their certificates approved when in the past they
were treated in the same way as Belgian students?

Answer given by Ms Reding on behalf of the Commission

(27 October 2003)

In 1999, in response to complaints from nationals of other Member States, and from Belgian nationals
the Commission drew the Belgian government’s attention to the
holding a French Baccalaureate,
compatibility with the EC Treaty,
in particular Articles 12, 149 and 150, of the French Community’s
legislation and administrative practice in respect of access to higher education for holders of secondary
school leaving qualifications acquired in other Member States.

Infringement proceedings were brought on the grounds that admission of nationals of other Member
States to certain areas of higher education (medicine, pharmacy, etc.) in Belgium was subject to an aptitude
examination referred to as ‘examen de maturité’, which was not required of students who obtained their
secondary school leaving certificate in Belgium.

The Commission considered this condition to be in breach of Article 12, in conjunction with Articles 149
and 150, of the EC Treaty. The right to equal treatment for nationals of other Member States in respect of
access to education and vocational training was established by the Court judgment of 13 February 1985
(Gravier 293/83). In its judgment the Court confirmed that, in order to have any meaningful effect, this
right necessarily implies that, once a diploma has been judged equivalent in that it certifies a level of
educational attainment at least equal to that of equivalent studies in Belgium, the student concerned should
not be subject, for the purposes of access to higher education, to conditions which are not imposed on
students who obtained their diploma in Belgium, such as passing a supplementary aptitude examination.