WRITTEN QUESTION E-3574/03 by Graham Watson (ELDR) to the Commission. European Agreement on the transmission of applications for Legal Aid.
Date: 2003-12-05
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Council of Europe, Monaco, accession to an agreement, judicial cooperation

C 84 E/738

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.4.2004

Supplementary answer
given by Mr Dimas on behalf of the Commission

(22 March 2004)

After receiving the required information from the Managing Authorities of the national Operational
Programme (OP) 1999 IT 161 003, the Commission is now able to report as follows:

(cid:1) The decision on the part of the Ministry for Education, Research and University (MIUR) to suspend the
co-financing of project III 6/D-5387 (‘Content Specialist & designer (cid:1) Specont’) was taken because the
project managers (Mr Palladino and Ms Ruvo) could not provide adequate financial guarantees. Indeed,
from that point of view, Mr Palladino and Ms Ruvo were operating illegally, and in fact, 16 students
had complained already that they had not received the fellowships to which they were entitled.

(cid:1) Mr Palladino and Ms Ruvo have repeatedly appealed the decision of MIUR before the administrative
tribunal (TAR) and the Consiglio di Stato. The latter, pending the final judgement by the TAR, has put
on hold the suspension decided by the MIUR, which would at least allow the MIUR to pay out
advance payments on the fellowships, but the Consiglio di Stato only did so under the condition that
Mr Palladino and Ms Ruvo are able to provide adequate financial guarantees, which as yet has not
happened.

(cid:1) The MIUR, as Managing Authority of the OP in question, can not act in substitution of the project
managers (cid:1) that is, award the advances on the fellowships- unless explicitly authorized to do so by
the TAR (or following the appointment of an ad-hoc administrator), which in either case could only
happen after the final judgement by the TAR itself.

(2004/C 84 E/0832)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3574/03

by Graham Watson (ELDR) to the Commission

(5 December 2003)

Subject: European Agreement on the transmission of applications for Legal Aid

What problems has the Commission uncovered as a result of Monaco not being a signatory to the 1977
Strasbourg Agreement on the transfer of Legal Aid applications? Will the Commission put pressure on
Monaco to sign the Agreement?

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(21 January 2004)

Monaco is not a member of the Council of Europe, but has applied to join, and is not indeed a party to
the 1977 Agreement. It is not for the Commission to put pressure on Monaco.

(2004/C 84 E/0833)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3625/03

by Charles Tannock (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Standardisation of national identity documents

(5 December 2003)

Recently, the United Kingdom Home Secretary David Blunkett announced plans for the introduction of
national identity cards with the setting up of a national biometric database which will include unique iris
and fingerprint data, incorporating smartchip technology into the cards. The setting up of this system in
the United Kingdom is expected to take course over the next five years.