WRITTEN QUESTION No. 275/99 by Riccardo NENCINI Situation of women with children in Italian prisons
C 341/80 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 29. 11. 1999 The Commission considers the report an apposite survey that by its range of proposals serves to advance discussion. It is a study by consultants and not a document expressing the Commission’s position in an area where choices are a matter for the Member States. The Commission has neither commissioned further studies nor received any application from the Spanish authorities for Cohesion Fund support for water transfer from the Ebro basin. If an application is made it will consider which of the instruments available to it would provide the best-geared timely assistance. A condition for Community financing of any project is compatibility with legal requirements and Community policy, including environmental law and policy. The Commission will support all efforts towards more rational use of water resources. It will take due account of socio-economic considerations and favour more efficient use of existing infrastructure (maintenance and improvement of networks, elimination of losses) rather than encourage creation of new infrastructure the cost of which would be unjustified or uneconomic. This is in line with the thrust of its proposal for a framework Directive on water (1). Approval in 1998 of the Portuguese and Spanish operational programmes on combating aridity submitted under the Interreg II C Community Initiative provided resources for determining and implementing the best solutions available within individual basins. (1) COM(97) 49 final amended by COM(98) 76 final. (1999/C 341/110) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0275/99 by Riccardo Nencini (PSE) to the Commission (17 February 1999) Subject: Situation of women with children in Italian prisons At present 52 children below the age of three are being kept in Italian prisons while their mothers serve sentences of varying lengths. Being kept in prison will have far-reaching adverse effects on their upbringing and education. In view of the relatively small numbers concerned, steps could be taken to allow their mothers to serve their sentence in a different way. The practice of keeping children of a very young age in prison is clearly at odds with the human and civil rights guidelines adopted by the European Parliament. Will the Commission make approaches to the Italian Government as a matter of urgency to persuade it to allow the mothers held in prison to look after and bring up their children outside a prison environment invoking the fundamental principles underlying European guidelines on freedom and respect for human and civil rights? Answer given by Mrs Gradin on behalf of the Commission (31 March 1999) The Commission underlines the need to respect human rights. In particular, the Commission supports the improvement of prison conditions in the Community in compliance with the European Convention for the protection of human rights, the prison standard rules for treatment of prisoners adopted by the Council of Europe in 1973. However, prison conditions in the Member States fall under the responsibility of national authorities. This situation could change to some extent with the entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty. New Article 31 of the Treaty on European Union provides for an approximation, where necessary, of rules relating not only to the constituent elements of criminal acts but also to penalties and for co-operation regarding proceedings, and especially in relation to the enforcement of decisions. Such measures are part of the instruments for the achievement of an area of freedom, security and justice and should aim at a high level of safety by means of preventing and combating crime