WRITTEN QUESTION E-3289/03 by Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Portuguese workers without rights in the North Sea.
Date: 2003-11-05
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Netherlands, Portugal, equal treatment, labour law, migrant worker, social-security benefit, worker (EU)

27.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 78 E/511

regional authorities, does not provide for coordination of German and Dutch legislation or present any
options. It is not possible to set up cross-border business parks either, because the regional plan in the
Netherlands prohibits this.

I have previously made the point that border regions have a pioneering role to play in European
integration and that
they are the prime sites for putting European cooperation into practice by
coordinating legislation and public facilities.

Does the Commission agree that encouraging the establishment of businesses on or across national

1.
borders should be a priority in border regions?

Does the Commission agree that it is very important to coordinate legislation or make it more

2.
flexible in the area described above, and will it take measures to encourage Member States to do this?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(23 December 2003)

In accordance with the guidelines governing the Community Initiative,

1.
Interreg, encouraging
entrepreneurship and the development of small firms and local employment initiatives are among the
priorities of European programmes for cross-border cooperation.

2.
The current generation of programmes for cooperation for the period, 2000-2006, seek to promote
the development of joint cross-border, transnational and inter-regional strategies and to overcome the
obstacles posed by the existence of different national
legal and administrative systems and traditions.
National legal and administrative systems are, however, the responsibility of the Member States provided
that Community law is respected, for example, with regard to the internal market or competition rules.

(2004/C 78 E/0532)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3289/03

by Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(5 November 2003)

Subject: Portuguese workers without rights in the North Sea

Various workers, including Portuguese nationals, have been working on North Sea oil platforms in the
Dutch sector, some of them for over ten years, in the Catering Logistic Management branch, without being
granted equal rights with local workers.

The argument used for this discrimination namely that they officially reside in Portugal and work two
weeks on and two weeks off is simply inadmissible.

The Dutch company does not sign them up for social security, nor pay their travel expenses; nor do they
have any social rights (family allowance, unemployment benefit, compensation for accidents at work, etc.).

Given that the Netherlands are an EU Member State, how can the failure of Dutch companies comply with
the most elementary workers’ rights be justified?

What measures will be taken to review the situation?

C 78 E/512

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

27.3.2004

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(4 December 2003)

The Commission would like to emphasise first of all that Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 (1) coordinates the
national social security systems of the Member States in order to ensure that persons moving within the
Union enjoy the highest standard of social protection. This Regulation includes, in particular, a set of rules
establishing the applicable social security legislation in situations where workers have links with two or
more Member States. These rules are mandatory and do not allow insured persons to choose the social
security legislation which they would prefer to see applied.

In order to establish which legislation is applicable, the Commission intends to ask the Dutch authorities
for an explanation to determine whether this is a case of the posting of workers in the context of the
provision of services and whether Community law has been properly observed.

(1) Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 of the Council of 14 June 1971 on the application of social security schemes to

employed persons and their families moving within the Community, OJ L 149, 5.7.1971.

(2004/C 78 E/0533)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3291/03

by Helena Torres Marques (PSE) to the Commission

Subject: Enforcement of Community decisions in Portugal

(3 November 2003)

Commission Decision 2002/914/EC of 24 July 2002 relating to a proceeding under Article 81 of the EC
Treaty and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement (Case No COMP/29 373 (cid:1) Visa International (cid:1) Multilateral
Interchange Fee) was published in the Official Journal (1).

The Decision sets out maximum values which may be charged by VISA for the use of debit and credit
cards in the Eurozone.

Naturally the rates applied to transactions made within each country must be lower than those applied to
the Eurozone, given the lower cost of telephone calls.

1. Will the Commission specify what body is responsible for the implementation of this Decision in
Portugal?

2.
Given that there is only one company, owned by the Portuguese banks (cid:1) Unicre (cid:1) through which
virtually all debit and credit card transactions made in Portugal are processed, what body is responsible for
enforcing Community decisions in this field?

(1) OJ L 318, 22.11.2002, p. 17.

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(5 December 2003)

By Decision 2002/914/EC of 24 July 2002, the Commission has exempted, under the Union competition
rules, certain multilateral interchange fees (MIF) for cross-border payments with Visa cards. The exemption
will expire in 2007.

In order to answer the questions of the Honourable Member, the Commission would first clarify some
aspects of Decision 2002/914/EC. The MIF is an inter-bank payment made for each transaction carried out
with a payment card. In the Visa system, it is paid to the cardholder’s bank by the retailer’s bank and
constitutes a cost for the latter which is normally passed on to retailers as part of the fee they pay to the
bank for each Visa card payment. The default level of the Visa MIF for cross-border transactions within the
European Region, which applies unless two banks agree otherwise, is set by the Visa EU Board and was
notified to the Commission for clearance. The exemption under Article 81(3) of the EC Treaty was granted