Parliamentary questions

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0533/02
by Ilka Schröder (GUE/NGL) to the Council
(14 February 2002)

Subject: Arrest of Mr Rodríguez Fernández with the help of EUROJUST

On 16 January 2002, Mr Juan Ramón Rodríguez Fernández was arrested in Amsterdam on a charge of having assisted ETA's Gorbea cell by passing addresses of the suspected right-wing extremist Pedro Varela on to someone else connected with ETA. As Jungle World No 7, published on 11 February 2002, put it, that was tantamount to passing on details of targets to be attacked. However, such information is freely available to anybody who looks it up in the Barcelona public telephone directory.According to the Spanish newspaper "La Vanguardia", the arrest was the "first fruit of the new EUROJUST system, the EU system for judicial cooperation". According to the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad, issue dated 20 January 2002, it was carried out very rapidly in response to a request submitted under the EUROJUST system by the Spanish Public Prosecutor to his Dutch counterpart. According to "Statewatch", a non-governmental organisation, the case was handled by pro-EUROJUST (see www.statewatch.org/news/2002/feb/02eurojust.htm).

Is the Council aware of the circumstances surrounding the arrest and of its legal basis? If so, what might that legal basis be? If not, which department of the EU or of one of the Member States is responsible for providing information to MEPs and to the general public?

To what extent was pro-EUROJUST or EUROJUST involved in the arrest, and on what legal basis was Mr Fernández arrested?

Does the Council feel that the available evidence (passing on a publicly available address) falls under the definition of terrorism as described in the Framework Decision on combating terrorism (14845/1/01 - C5-0680/2001 - 2001/0217(CNS))?

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0546/02
by Ilka Schröder (GUE/NGL) to the Council
(18 February 2002)

Subject: Raid by the Netherlands Police on the "Vrankrijk" Building in Amsterdam

At about 3.30 a.m. on 17 January 2002, some 200 officers from the Amsterdam Police Force stormed the internationally famous "Vrankrijk" Building, located at 216 Spuistraat in the city centre, and, according to inhabitants of the building, hit a neighbour so hard with a truncheon that he required hospital treatment. They then searched all 14 apartments (see report at www.statewatch.org). During the raid, several books, mobile telephones and a collection of water pistols were confiscated. According to statements by the inhabitants of the building, the police also searched apartments for which they did not hold a search warrant. (see report at http://www.indymedia.de/2002/01/13697/html).

1. What information does the Council have about the raid on the "Vrankrijk" Building? On what legal basis was it carried out?

2. What measures will the Council take in the future in order to prevent raids on buildings or parts of buildings in the Member States?

3. What information does the Council have about any of its own proposals or Commission proposals designed to afford better protection from arbitrary police action of fundamental rights in the EU, especially the fundamental right of inviolability of the home?