WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3508/97 by Leonie van BLADEL to the Council. Parliamentary control of intelligence and security services in Agenda 2000
25. 5. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 158/135 For its part, the Commission makes a point of raising these issues in its contacts with the authorities of the countries concerned and strives with all means at its disposal to contribute to the elimination of the practices referred to by the Honourable Member. An example of this is the proposal it adopted at the end of October regarding the implementation of the social and environmental incentive clauses in the framework of the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP). Specifically, the draft Council Regulation provides for the granting of additional preferences to those countries benefiting from the system which specifically request them and which can demonstrate that they have adopted, and are effectively enforcing, the substance of the international standards relating to the protection of workers established by the International Labour Organisation, in particular Convention No 138, on the minimum age for admission to employment. (98/C 158/176) WRITTEN QUESTION E-3508/97 by Leonie van Bladel (UPE) to the Council (14 November 1997) Subject: Parliamentary control of intelligence and security services in Agenda 2000 1. Does the Council know that on 20 September 1997 Mr K. M. Meulmeester, in his capacity as adviser to the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, attended a Europe 2000 conference in Bucharest at which the main topic was European models on parliamentary control regarding law enforcement and intelligence organizationsí? Is the Council aware that, as the former head of the now defunct Netherlands Foreign Intelligence Service 2. (IDB), Mr Meulmeester and the former Secretary-General of the Netherlands General Affairs Ministry, Mr R. J. Hoekstra, had files destroyed by the IDB as a matter of course and in particular had files relating to Suriname compiled and processed without parliamentary approval? Does the Council not agree that officials who fail to comply with the democratic rules in their own country 3. should in no circumstances be involved in information and support activities in Eastern Europe relating to intelligence and security services? 4. Will the Council ask the Commission to draw up guidelines to ensure that in future officials who have infringed democratic rules are in no circumstances involved in information and support activities relating to intelligence and security services? The questions raised by the Honourable Member are not a matter for the Council. Answer (20 January 1998) (98/C 158/177) WRITTEN QUESTION E-3509/97 by Leonie van Bladel (UPE) to the Council (14 November 1997) Subject: Violation of privacy by European local authorities 1. In the Hofkwartier district of The Hague, all traffic on the corner of Molenstraat and Prinsestraat, including pedestrians, is recorded on video cameras by the local authority in connection with the closure of a section of the city to motorized traffic. The video pictures are also monitored by private individuals, namely the staff of the Park Hotel in The Hague, who allow motor vehicles selected by them through the pedestrian zone between 11. 30 a. m. and 5. 30 p. m. Does the Council not consider that surveillance of the public highway in Europe should never be contracted out by local authorities to private individuals?