WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2402/98 by Olivier DUPUIS to the Council. Financial transactions carried out by Mr Karadzic
C 135/50 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 14. 5. 1999 (1999/C 135/057) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2401/98 by Marjo Matikainen-Kallström (PPE) to the Commission Subject: Compulsory use of winter tyres in Finland and road safety (27 July 1998) In Finland it is compulsory to use winter tyres, and accordingly every vehicle registered in Finland must during the winter months use either studded tyres or non-studded friction tyres for winter driving. However, Finland has no right to prevent vehicles arriving in Finland without winter tyres during the period when these are compulsory if they are registered in a country other than Finland. However Germany, for example, is allowed to prevent a Finnish-registered car from entering Germany with studded tyres. Should not such prohibitions and freedoms be applied uniformly throughout the EU, applying to all countries? Each country should have the right to enact road safety provisions and to insist that all EU nationals travelling on its territory comply with those provisions. How does the Commission justify the current discrimination between the Member States? Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission (6 October 1998) The compulsory use of winter tyres in Finland for safety reasons under specific climatic conditions is a matter of national competence. It is imposed, as the Honourable Member says, on all road users, regardless of the Member State of registration of the motor vehicle and does not, therefore, constitute a case of discrimination. In this context it should be mentioned that in some areas in other Member States there are requirements for all motor vehicles to use snow chains for safety reasons. Forbidding winter tyres with studs on roads also falls under the competence of the national authority responsible for the roads. The reason for this prohibition is the excessive wear of roads caused by such tyres. (1999/C 135/058) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2402/98 by Olivier Dupuis (ARE) to the Council (28 July 1998) Subject: Financial transactions carried out by Mr Karadzic According to a report which appeared in the Banja Luka weekly Nezavisne Novine and which was taken up by the Corriere della Sera of 22 June 1998, DM 17 million (the equivalent of Lire 17 billion) were transferred in March 1997 from the National Bank of the Republika Srpska (the Serb Republic) to the Nuova Banca di Credito di Trieste (also known under the Slovene name of Trzaska Kreditna Banka); this transfer of funds seems to have been carried out by henchmen of the war criminal Radovan Karadzic shortly before they were obliged to hand over the government of the Serb Republic to the ‘moderates’ of the current Prime Minister, Milorad Dodik. The enormous capital sum transferred is assumed to consist either of the proceeds of the looting carried out by the Bosnian Serbs in the course of their ‘ethnic cleansing’ drive or of funds misappropriated from the Serb Republic. − what information can the Council obtain concerning the activities of the Liechtenstein-based company Sarnos Establishment, which seems to be used by the ‘Karadzic clan’ as a cover for capital transfers? − what information can the Council obtain concerning the activities of the Rome-based International institute for political and economic research on cooperation and development (Ispeco), headed by Mr Gianfranco Oliverio, which appears to have emerged in June 1995 as a political and economic pressure group lobbying on behalf of Radovan Karadzic in Italy?