WRITTEN QUESTION No. 526/98 by Iñigo MÉNDEZ DE VIGO to the Council. Free movement of persons within the Schengen area
C 223/176 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 17. 7. 98 Answer given by Mr de Silguy on behalf of the Commission (27 March 1998) It is important to underline that Member States wishing to join the euro area but being unable to do so at the outset will be, nonetheless, on the way to membership, with continuing convergence favouring their integration in the euro area in the near future. Therefore, markets will consider them as pre-in Member States and financial market implications should remain limited. As long as the policies applied in the Member States initially remaining outside the euro area continue to 1. promote stability and structural improvement, no unfavourable effect has to be expected on the currencies of these Member States. On the contrary, the creation of the euro will provide a currency of reference, that is likely to act as a pole of stability for the currencies of the ápre-iní Member States. Indeed, all Member States have committed themselves to pursuing stability oriented policies, as outlined in the broad economic guidelines and in the convergence programmes of the respective Member States. In line with the continuing convergence, interest rates in the ápre-iní Member States can be expected to 2. come nearer to the levels of the euro-area interest rates. A substantial narrowing has already taken place. 3. The Dublin European Council, in December 1996, agreed the structure of a new exchange rate mechanism (ERM), which would provide Member States having a derogation with a reference for their conduct of sound economic policies in general and monetary policy in particular. Subsequently, the Amsterdam European Council, in June 1997, adopted the relevant Resolution. Although membership in the new ERM is voluntary, it will help participants to ensure that they orient their policies to stability, foster convergence and help them in their efforts to adopt the euro. 4. Enterprises in ápre-iní Member States will not yet benefit from the increased transparency, elimination of exchange rate variations and availability of finance that will be provided by the introduction of the euro. However, the ongoing process of convergence, which will ultimately allow the pre-ins to adopt the euro, will improve the conditions in which the enterprises are working. (98/C 223/230) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0526/98 by Iñ igo Me·ndez de Vigo (PPE) to the Council (27 February 1998) Subject: Free movement of persons within the Schengen area The Schengen Agreement addresses one of the major challenges facing Europe, namely the free movement of persons within the European region. One of its goals is to abolish customs and police controls at the internal frontiers between the signatory states, without jeopardizing the maintenance of public order and national security. In contrast, controls at the external frontiers will be stepped up. What is the Councilís opinion of the practice adopted by the airline Sabena of requesting and checking passengersí national identity documents during check-in? Answer (11 May 1998) It is not for the Council to reply to the Honourable Memberís question, which relates to the Schengen area established between certain States which are also members of the European Union