C 52 E/120 Official Journal of the EN 6.3.2003

No link can be made between repeal (should it occur) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3760/92 of 20 December 1992 establishing a Community system for fisheries and aquaculture and the two Council Regulations (EEC) No 1275/94 and (EC) No 685/95 of 27 March 1995 on fishing effort management for certain Community areas and resources, since these two Regulations constitute specific arrangements adopted in the context of the Act of Accession of Spain and .

(2003/C 52 E/136) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2021/02 by Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL) to the Council

(9 July 2002)

Subject: Seville summit

Bearing in mind the free movement of persons within the European Union enshrined in the Treaties, and the rights of citizens freely to express their opinions, including the right to demonstrate peacefully, specifically during European Council meetings, can the Commission answer the following questions:

Do the events during the recent summit in Seville, when the Spanish police prevented hundreds of Portuguese citizens from entering the country, including delegations from the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), Left Bloc (BE) and NGOs intending to travel to Seville to take part in the demonstration on 22 June, mean that only capital now enjoys unrestricted freedom of movement?

Will application of the Schengen Agreement be suspended for all summits from now on, thereby calling into question the right to demonstrate freely at European Union level?

(2003/C 52 E/137) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2028/02 by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Council

(9 July 2002)

Subject: Shameful violation of civil and political rights and physical aggression against Portuguese citizens prompted by a Spanish Government decision

Policemen belonging to the Guardia Civil prevented a number of buses carrying Portuguese passengers from crossing the Spanish border at Rosal de Frontera in Huelva on 22 June. The latter were travelling to Seville to take part in a demonstration to be held during the European Council meeting. The policemen went so far as to assault two members of the Left Bloc political party, one of them a Portuguese Member of Parliament. The violation of civil and political rights suffered by the Portuguese citizens was aggravated by the fact that they were trying to take part in a legitimate political event being held in the territory of the Union of which they are citizens and the fact that the policemen were acting in response to an order issued by the Spanish Government itself, which at that moment was chairing the EU in the person of the Prime Minister José Maria Aznar.

This Galician MEP shares the shame of the Galicians and citizens of Spain at this action on the part of central government and the indignation of the Portuguese population, the Members of the Portuguese Parliament and the Portuguese Government, and condemns such aggressive and anti-democratic behaviour.

What explanation can the Council give for such shameful acts on the part of the Spanish presidency? What reparation will it offer those who were assaulted and Portugal’s institutions?