News report : 17-02-99

• Arrest of Abdullah Oçalan
• Euro and transaction costs - the Commission launches an enquiry
• Transport committee demands voyage data recorders on all types of ro-ro ferries
• FYROM keen to be part of Europe

Arrest of Abdullah Oçalan

Following the arrest and return to Turkey of the PKK leader, Abdullah OÇALAN, the Foreign Affairs Committee adopted a statement addressed to Piet DANKERT, Chair of the EP Delegation to the EU/Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee, which is currently meeting in Ankara, and to the Commission delegation in Turkey. Referring to previous European Parliament resolutions on the situation of the Kurds in Turkey and the fact that Turkey is a member of the Council of Europe as well as a signatory to the European Human Rights Convention and the UN Convention against Torture, the statement said that one of Turkey's obligations was not to apply the death penalty.

The statement calls on the Turkish judicial authorities to guarantee that Mr Oçalan is treated humanely and receives a fair public trial in accordance with Turkey's international obligations. Such a trial would include the right to choose his lawyers freely and independently. It also asks the Turkish authorities to include EU lawyers as observers in the legal proceedings and to allow parliamentarians to meet Mr Oçalan.

In addition, the Foreign Affairs Committee wants the Turkish authorities and the other governments involved to provide a full explanation of the circumstances which resulted in Mr Oçalan's imprisonment and whether this complies with international law.

The statement strongly condemns any acts of violence, hostage-taking and occupation of embassies on Union territory and calls on the Kurdish protesters to respect law and order in the EU Member States.

Lastly, it refers to the need for a political solution to the Kurdish question. Such a solution, together with a fair and public trial of Mr Oçalan, are regarded as crucial to relations between Turkey and the EU.

Tom SPENCER (EPP, UK), Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, deplored the absence from the meeting of the Council Presidency, which had not wished to address Parliament until it had gleaned the views of the various Member States. The Commission representative stressed the importance that his institution, which was going to monitor developments in the case very closely, attached to the observance of European standards and in particular Council of Europe conventions, in any trial of Mr Oçalan.

Further information: Guy DEREGNAUCOURT - tel. 284 38 06
            e-mail: gguy.deregnaucourt@europarl.europa.eu

Euro and transaction costs - the Commission launches an enquiry

Top EU bankers came before the Monetary Affairs sub-committee to respond to a barrage of criticism from MEPs from a cross-section of countries about overcharging for transaction costs in the new era of fixed exchange rates following the introduction of the euro on 1 January 1999.

Danny De Raymaeker, the General Manager of the Payments department of Belgium's Kredietbank, said costs for small note transactions in the bank had actually fallen from 1.5% to 1.25% with a similar reduction in the basic handling charge from FB100 to FB50. He felt that a misconception had been raised amongst consumers expecting all transaction costs to disappear once the exchange rate element had been taken out of the equation. It was, he added, imperative to realise that other operational costs such as transport of foreign currency, insurance and security remained. In fact, the exchange rate risk element only amounted to about one-fifth of the total charge, depending on the currency in question. However, MEPs from the committee were annoyed that the bank's notational costs of exchanging the equivalent of EUR 500 had in fact increased, whereas the charge for EUR 50,000 had come down. This was totally against the spirit of the single currency. Mr De Raymaeker was however able to report on a considerable drop in charges for electronic transfers from EUR 6.22 to EUR 3.72 for a sum up to EUR 500.

Mr De Raymaeker was however supported by several other bankers including the Secretary General of the European Banking Federation, Nikolaus Bömcke, who said the banking community had invested some EUR 10bn in preparing for the changeover and that his soundings indicated that average costs had come down. Competition in the new age of transparency would, he said, eventually drive prices down. His statement did not however, satisfy Katrin Schweren from the European Consumers Bureau, who drew attention to the situation in Italy where 4 out of every 10 banks had put up their charges.

Commissioner Van Miert then announced the Commission's determination to crackdown on overcharging through launching an enquiry which has started with on-the-spot checks on practices in 8 banks operating in 4 European states.

Roy Worsley - 17/2/99

Transport committee demands voyage data recorders on all types of ro-ro ferries

By adopting Mark WATTS' (PES, UK) recommendation for second reading on the common position by the Council regarding the directive on conditions for the operation of regular ro-ro ferry and high speed passenger craft services, the Committee on Transport and Tourism demanded that all these vessels be fitted with a voyage data recorder (VDR) within 5 years. Chaired by Jean- Pierre BAZIN (UFE, F), the Committee disagreed with the Council and the Commission that the cost of such VDRs was too high. Exemptions in perpetuity were unacceptable as they compromised safety.

Neither could the Committee accept the view that information on safety matters should be kept confidential. Dissemination of information on safety was an inseparable part of Community safety policy. Said the rapporteur: "There is a moral obligation to avoid confidentiality because the public is entitled to information. Exposure of the "bad" players to public knowledge is therefore unavoidable". Mr WATTS also asked for regular inspections of the life-saving appliances, including rescue boat equipment to ensure that they were complete and in good order.

This draft recommendation under the cooperation procedure is due to be considered by the House in April 1999 in Strasbourg.

Further information: Ton HUIJSSOON, Tel 284 24 08 or E-mail: dirk.huyssoon@europarl.europa.eu

FYROM keen to be part of Europe

Speaking at a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr Ljubco GEORGIEVSKI, Prime Minister of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), stressed the efforts made by his country to achieve its main priority: integration into Europe. Since the adoption of its new constitution in 1991, he said, FYROM had been a factor for peace in the Balkans. The 1998 legislative elections had also helped consolidate the peaceful transition process. FYROM had shown it was willing to respect the rights of the national minorities who made up the country: these minorities were well represented in the present government.

On the economic front, FYROM had adopted laws favouring a market economy and wished to join the WTO. It hoped the Union would help it achieve this aim. The longer term goal was membership of the EU itself. Legislative harmonisation was proceeding apace but a special committee for relations with FYROM would be helpful.

On foreign and security policy, he was eager to speed up preparations to enable his country to join Nato. Under his government, he said, FYROM was a reliable partner for the EU, the proof being its stance in the Kosovo conflict.

Mr Georgievski argued that his country already met the requirements for associate EU membership and called for it to be removed from the "negative list" for obtaining visas. FYROM hoped negotiations on an association agreement could start this year and was unhappy with EU's level of representation to the country, which did not reflect the current level of their relations.

Doris PACK (EPP, D), Chair of the Delegation for Relations with the Countries of South-East Europe, asked Mr Georgievski what steps had been taken to ensure genuine press freedom. Arie OOSTLANDER (EPP, NL) was concerned that the large Albanian minority was under-represented in the public service and asked what the policy was for improving the situation of Albanian- speaking citizens. Olivier DUPUIS (ERA, I) claimed that the Commission and Council were guilty of equivocation and deception and that FYROM would not get the go-ahead for EU membership. He said it was wrong to argue, as the Council was trying to do, that accession had to be preceded by an intermediate stage of association. In his view the only way of putting FYROM on the EU's agenda was for it to lodge a membership application. Other questions by MEPs focused on whether and how the Albanians of FYROM identified with the Kosovo Albanians.

In reply, Mr GEORGIEVSKI assured MEPs that his government was keen to establish proper press freedom and that he was in favour of privatising publicly-owned media organisations. His government, he said, had instituted rights for national minorities and he was willing for independent observers to carry out a study comparing the situation in FYROM with that in other Balkan countries. He called on the Union to acknowledge the real situation and reward FYROM for the progress it had made. Regarding relations between the FYROM Albanians and the Kosovo Albanians, he said that if the Serb regime were not so violent there would not have been such a violent reaction in Kosovo. It was in FYROM's strategic interests for Kosovo to gain a broad measure of autonomy.

In conclusion, Mr GEORGIEVSKI said he took Mr Dupuis' advice very seriously and promised that FYROM would lodge a formal application for accession to the Union.

Further information: Guy DEREGNAUCOURT - tel. 284 38 06
            e-mail: gguy.deregnaucourt@europarl.europa.eu