WRITTEN QUESTION E-2205/99 by Astrid Lulling (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Searches carried out at the homes of Belgian frontier workers employed in Luxembourg's banking sector.
8. 8. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 225 E/73 (2000/C 225 E/072) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2205/99 by Astrid Lulling (PPE-DE) to the Commission (29 November 1999) Subject: Searches carried out at the homes of Belgian frontier workers employed in Luxembourgís banking sector Investigators from the financial section of the Brussels CID conducted searches on Saturday, 30 October 1999 at the Belgian residences of employees of the Kredietbank in Luxembourg. A large number of frontier workers had already received from the special tax inspectorate in Belgium a questionnaire requiring them to list their accounts with the KBL, the amount of income generated by savings and the nature of the transactions carried out via these accounts. Does the Commission share the opinion of the Luxembourg union of bank staff which denounces as to frontier workers to violate scandalous and defamatory these actions which are an incitement Luxembourgís rules on banking secrecy with which they are required to comply by Luxembourg law? Does it believe that making criminals of frontier workers in this way is compatible with the right of workers to freedom of movement and the conditions of employment deriving from the labour law in the country of employment? What measures would it contemplate, where necessary, to guarantee that the right of workers to freedom of movement is not obstructed by actions on the part of the authorities of the country of residence of frontier workers which merit the description of intolerable psychological pressure? Answer given by Mr Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission (28 January 2000) There are no rules on bank secrecy in Community law. From the point of view of the legal instruments adopted by the European Union in the field of judicial cooperation on criminal matters, there is nothing that would prohibit the Belgian financial police from searching the houses of people working in Luxembourg banks. Again, there are no legal provisions in the acquis on cooperation in criminal matters that would prohibit the Belgian authorities from sending out questionnaires to frontier workers. As these measures do not discriminate on the basis of the nationality of the people concerned, the Commission does not see them as obstacles to freedom of movement for workers. (2000/C 225 E/073) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2214/99 by Cristiana Muscardini (NI) and Sergio Berlato (UEN) to the Commission Subject: Oilseed sector and the Millennium Round (29 November 1999) It is common knowledge that the outcome of the compromise reached over Agenda 2000 at the European Council meeting in Berlin was unsatisfactory for the oilseed sector. This sector deserved greater attention, to protect it from international ü and particularly American ü competition. It is a sector which in Italy alone accounts for some 90 000 firms. The agreement reached at the last meeting of the Council of Ministers for Agriculture over the EU document to be presented at the forthcoming WTO negotiations in Seattle places special emphasis on the multifunctional character of the current European agricultural model