WRITTEN QUESTION E-0269/00 by Jan-Kees Wiebenga (ELDR) to the Council. Schengen-area border checks at Schiphol airport.
C 26 E/26 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 26. 1. 2001 (2001/C 26 E/030) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0269/00 by Jan-Kees Wiebenga (ELDR) to the Council (8 February 2000) Subject: Schengen-area border checks at Schiphol airport A case has been reported of a Netherlands national who was required by the Netherlands airline KLM to show a valid passport as proof of identity on an intra-Schengen flight from Amsterdam to Rome. 1. On what provisions of the Schengen Treaty is the requirement to show a valid passport based? Are there not other travel documents or proofs of identity that are recognised by European Union 2. Member States as sufficient for travel between Schengen countries? If so, what are they? Do other national Schengen-country airlines, such as Sabena, Air France or Lufthansa, also ask for a 3. valid passport, or do they also accept other proof of identity? If the arrangements applied were in accordance with the rules in force, is the Council prepared to 4. change those rules so that other proofs of identity can be accepted? Reply (8 June 2000) The Council would draw the Honourable Memberís attention to the fact that, as far as nationals of the Member States are concerned, the Schengen provisions do not regulate the right of airlines to verify prior to check-in that the holder of a travel document which is normally personal and non-transferable is indeed the person named in that document. In addition, the Council informs the Honourable Member that, pursuant to Directives 68/360/EEC and 73/ 148/EEC, and on the basis of the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Communities, all nationals of the Member States must, when travelling within the EU, be in possession of either a valid identity card, or a valid passport. Since an identity card is not compulsory in the Netherlands, any national of that country travelling to the territory of another Member State must at least hold a valid passport. In any case, the Council would emphasise that it is to the Commission and to the Court of Justice and that the Treaty entrusts the task of ensuring that Community law is applied correctly in the Member States. (2001/C 26 E/031) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0271/00 by Paulo Casaca (PSE) to the Commission (7 February 2000) Subject: Functioning of the internal employment market between the EU and Switzerland A European citizen, Kosta Parlavanzas, has submitted a substantial set of documents in which it is stated that Switzerland pursues a deliberate, systematic policy of restricting employment opportunities for foreign workers to a period of between 20 and 30 years, after which they are sent back to their country of origin with no transfer of pension rights. Is the Commission in possession of any research into the legal status of European immigrants in Switzerland? Does the Commission consider it possible or desirable for relations between the EU and Switzerland to continue and to be deepened (particularly in the context of the European Economic Area) if the latter country fails to implement the basic employment rules of the single market?