WRITTEN QUESTION P-3334/03 by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission. Politically absurd opinion polls.
Date: 2003-11-06
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Commission, budget, international security, opinion poll, peace, public opinion

27.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 78 E/263

In the 2002 EAGGF financial year (16 October 2001 to
It can however provide aggregate figures.
15 October 2002) EUR 56 million was paid out in live animal export refunds to 98 recipients. The ten
biggest of these accounted for 80 % of this amount.

(1) Council Regulation (EEC) No 595/91 of 4 March 1991 concerning irregularities and the recovery of sums wrongly
paid in connection with the financing of the common agricultural policy and the organisation of an information
system in this field and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 283/72, OJ L 67, 14.3.1991.

(2) Commission Regulation (EC) No 615/98 of 18 March 1998 laying down specific detailed rules of application for
the export refund arrangements as regards the welfare of live bovine animals during transport, OJ L 82, 19.3.1998.
(3) Council Directive 91/628/EEC of 19 November 1991 on the protection of animals during transport and amending

Directives 90/425/EEC and 91/496/EEC, OJ L 340, 11.12.1991.

(4) Commission Regulation (EC) No 639/2003 of 9 April 2003 laying down detailed rules pursuant to Council
Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 as regards requirements for the granting of export refunds related to the welfare of
live bovine animals during transport, OJ L 93, 10.4.2003.

(5) Commission Regulation (EC) No 2390/1999 of 25 October 1999 laying down detailed rules on the application of
Regulation (EC) No 1663/95 as regards the form and content of the accounting information that the Member States
must hold at the disposal of the Commission for the purposes of the clearance of the EAGGF Guarantee Section
accounts, OJ L 295, 16.11.1999.

(2004/C 78 E/0263)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3334/03

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission

(6 November 2003)

Subject: Politically absurd opinion polls

On 3 November the Italian press gave prominence to the results of an opinion poll, requested by the
Commission’s Directorate-General for Press and Communication, asking which country is the greatest
threat to peace.

Irrespective of the objective reliability of the answers (it is a known fact that much depends on how a
question is asked), can the Commission say:

1. what prompted it to ask such a question, who devised this part of the poll and on the basis of what

criteria;

2. whether it was aware that such a question is provocative;

3. how it can equate democracies such as the United States and Israel with totalitarian regimes which

suppress fundamental freedoms and human dignity, such as North Korea;

4. whether it realises that to treat the subject of peace in this way shows a total lack of diplomacy;

5. how much the poll cost, what budget line was used to pay for it and what the point of such

expenditure is for the EU?

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(19 December 2003)

The Commission would remind the Honourable Member that on 3 November 2003, while in New York,
Mr Prodi made a statement concerning the Eurobarometer Flash 151 survey in which he voiced concern at
the findings. He took the step of organising for the first half of 2004 a seminar with the organisations
representing the Jewish communities in Europe to study the role of Judaism in the construction of Europe
and the relations between European public opinion, Judaism, the State of Israel, and the Near and Middle
East.

C 78 E/264

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

27.3.2004

The Commission would stress that the Eurobarometer findings in no way reflect its own positions, that it
does not base its action on the findings of surveys and that it condemns outright any form of antisemitism.

1.
The purpose of the Eurobarometer Flash 151 survey was to gauge people’s attitudes towards the
reconstruction process in Iraq, peace in the world and the role of the Union on the international stage,
particularly in the Near and Middle East. Among the many questions asked, one concerned the level of
threat perceived in the case of certain countries.

The list of countries included,
discussed in the media in previous months and met one or more of the following criteria:

in addition to the Union, a number of third countries that had been

(cid:1) countries that are major actors in areas exposed to regional conflict;

(cid:1) countries that had developed, or had the capacity to develop, nuclear programmes for military

purposes;

(cid:1) countries with possible links to international terrorism.

The questionnaire was prepared jointly by the Press and Communication Directorate-General and by our
contractor, TNS Sofres, whose coordination centre for the Eurobarometre Flash 151 survey is EOS Gallup
Europe.

The Commission had no intention of conducting a provocative survey. It neither determines nor

2.
controls the content of public opinion.

3.
This question was concerned not with the level of democracy in the countries tested but solely with
how individuals perceived any threat to peace. The criteria for selecting the countries to be included in the
list are spelt out above.

4.
By virtue of its very nature, an opinion poll is not necessarily ‘diplomatic’ since its purpose is to
capture the state of public opinion and by no means to represent the position of a particular institution. In
order to be understood by the majority, any question asked in an opinion poll proceeds by simplification.
The question on countries that could pose a threat to world peace needs to be seen in the wider context of
this study, of which it was only one aspect among many others.

5.
The cost of the study on Iraq and world peace (preparation, fieldwork, processing of statistics and
drafting of the report) was EUR 150 098,34, financed out of budget line B-3-300. The opinion poll
financing, political
contained fifteen or so questions on the reconstruction of
transition, security, military aspects, humanitarian aid), on the Union’s role on the international stage
(impact of the war in Iraq, peace process in the Middle East, development of cultural relations with the
Arab world, closeness to the foreign policy of the United States) and on the perception of certain risks
(terrorism, countries regarded as posing a threat to peace). This opinion poll captures the attitudes of
individuals in the Union to these various aspects. The findings, broken down by country and by socio-
demographic variable, have been made available to decision-makers, journalists, the scientific community
and any interested individual.

Iraq (administration,

(2004/C 78 E/0264)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3335/03

by Roberta Angelilli (UEN) to the Commission

(12 November 2003)

Subject: Editorial offices of the daily newspaper ‘Il Giornale’ searched

On 17 October last the head office of the daily newspaper ‘Il Giornale’ in Rome was subjected to a seven-
hour search ordered by the Public Prosecutor of Perugia in the context of investigations into the ‘Telekom
Serbia’ case.

The newspaper had been conducting a detailed inquiry into the growing scandal involving the former
State-owned company Telecom Italia, which purchased the Serbian company in 1997, and a number of
politicians in the government at the time. The inquiry had recently revealed new aspects of the case and
evidence submitted by some individuals acquainted with the facts had been published.