WRITTEN QUESTION E-2801/03 by Pedro Marset Campos (GUE/NGL) to the Council. Special tolls in France and Germany for the transport of goods by road.
Date: 2003-09-19
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: France, Germany, carriage of goods, commercial vehicle, road transport, tax system, toll

27.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 78 E/757

2. Where a cluster of cases of legionnaires’ disease is reported, does the Commission consider that, in
view of the life-threatening nature of the disease, it is desirable for a travel organisation to provide the
fullest possible information to travellers, and if so, is the two-week period too long?

3. Will the Commission submit a proposal for rules on the provision of information on cases of
legionnaires’ disease in order to avert deaths?

If the Commission intends to submit such a proposal, will it incorporate these rules in a legislative

4.
proposal?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(22 October 2003)

information to travellers and action by national authorities concerning
Guidelines on reporting cases,
legionnaires’ disease outbreaks have been proposed by the technical experts of the European Working
Group for Legionella Infections Network (Ewglinet). Such guidelines are not mandatory for the authorities
and organisations concerned but they can contribute to establishing a basis for decisions and action aimed
at providing a high-level of health protection.

Co-operation through the Ewglinet has helped fight legionnaires’ disease and represents a significant
advance. There is, however, no consensus among the authorities concerned as to how the guidelines
proposed by the experts can serve as the basis for regulatory provisions that have subsequently to be
enforced.

The Commission has provided support to Ewglinet and works to achieve a common approach among the
authorities represented in its Communicable Disease Network Committee, established under Decision
No 2119/98/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 24 September 1998 setting up a network for the
epidemiological surveillance and control of communicable diseases in the Community (1), to enable the
formulation of guidelines on the basis of scientific and technical advice that will take into account the
proposals cited in the question.

(1) OJ L 268, 3.10.1998.

(2004/C 78 E/0805)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2801/03

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

(19 September 2003)

Subject: Special tolls in France and Germany for the transport of goods by road

The announcement that the French and German authorities will shortly impose special tolls for lorries
travelling through those countries on the motorways is likely to cause justified alarm in the Murcia region
(Spain), particularly in the farming industry, since it might have adverse effects on the transport of fruit
and vegetables from Murcia to various EU countries.

1.

Is the Council aware of this situation?

Does the Council not consider it appropriate to demand that

2.
implemented, given that the charges are discriminatory and damaging?

this measure should not be

Does the Council take the view that these French and German measures may violate the free

3.
movement and transport of goods in the EU?

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Official Journal of the European Union

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27.3.2004

Does the Council not believe that, if they were to be implemented, these measures would be most
4.
damaging for the most outlying European regions, such as the Murcia region which remains an Objective
1 region? Does this measure not represent flagrant discrimination among regions?

Does the Council not believe that, at a time of economic recession in the euro zone, these measures

5.
would damage economic recovery in a key sector such as the transport of goods by road?

Reply

(4 March 2004)

The Council is aware of the fact that German authorities intend to impose in the near future tolls on heavy
goods vehicles,
levied per kilometre. The Council does not dispose of any information which might
indicate that France, apart from the tolls it already applies on its highways, intends to impose additional
tolls on all heavy goods vehicles travelling through France.

The Council recalls that any levying of tolls for heavy goods vehicles must respect the provisions of
Directive 1999/62/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the charging of heavy goods
vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures (1).

Provided that a Member State respects these provisions, it is free to impose tolls on heavy goods vehicles;
it may be recalled that in some ‘transit countries’, such tolls (cid:1) also levied on transport operators from
other countries which make use of their infrastructure (cid:1) constitute a contribution to the financing of the
transeuropean networks concerned.

Furthermore, the Council
informs the Honourable Parliamentarian that it is currently examining the
Commission’s proposal for a Directive on the charging of heavy goods vehicles for the use of certain
infrastructure (2), which aims to ensure that a harmonised methodology will be used for the calculation of
tolls and to render toll systems more transparent;
in the context of this examination, the particular
concerns of peripheral countries and regions will be duly taken into account.

(1) OJ L 187, 20.7.1999, p. 42.
(2) COM(2003) 448 final (2003/0175 (COD)).

(2004/C 78 E/0806)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2807/03

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(19 September 2003)

Subject: The Vatican’s crusade against homosexual marriages within the EU and the Vatican’s right to

acquire revenue by issuing euro coins

1.
Is the Commission aware that in the Netherlands and Belgium it is now legal for two people of the
same sex to marry, and is the Commission aware of the European Parliament’s resolution of 4 September
2003 on fundamental rights in the EU in 2002 (Sylla report, A5-0281/2003), which calls for homosexuals
to be given the right to marry and adopt children and mentions the recent Belgian legislation as one of the
ways in which progress was made in 2002?

2.
Is the Commission aware of the position adopted by the Roman Catholic Church’s Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican City opposing this, the Congregation’s recent explicit rejection of
such marriages and its call for Catholic parliamentarians to oppose their legalisation?