WRITTEN QUESTION E-0654/00 by Marie-Noëlle Lienemann (PSE) to the Commission. European aid for victims of crime.
26. 1. 2001 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 26 E/81 (2001/C 26 E/099) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0654/00 by Marie-Noºlle Lienemann (PSE) to the Commission (9 March 2000) Subject: European aid for victims of crime What action can the Commission take to ensure that victims of crime receive a better hearing and greater understanding, counselling and support and that their interests are taken into account both in the judicial process and as regards redress, compensation and human, social and psychological follow-up in all countries of the European Union? A commitment of this kind by the Commission would help to ensure the protection of victimsí rights, a natural corollary of the free movement of persons, and would be a further step towards a peopleís Europe. Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission (15 May 2000) In its communication of 14 July 1999 on Crime victims in the European Union ü Reflections on standards and actioní (1), the Commission argued that regarding both assistance to crime victims and victimsí access to and standing in their own process, a number of steps to improve the situation should be considered. On the basis of reactions to the communication and expert advice to be obtained in the course of a number of events to be organised at European level in the coming months, the Commission will decide what kind of action needs to be taken to bring forward this important matter. The Commission has noted with satisfaction that Portugal has already taken an initiative and proposed a framework decision on the standing of the victim in the criminal procedure. As regards the compensation of victims of criminal offences, the Commission is both urging all the Member States to ratify the 1983 European Convention on the compensation of victims of violent crimes and examining the question in depth so as to improve the situation of victims. (1) COM(1999) 349 final. (2001/C 26 E/100) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0657/00 by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission Subject: The real economy and the financial economy (9 March 2000) The financial crises that have occurred in various parts of the world since 1997 can only be interpreted as signs of an underlying crisis in the international financial and monetary system as a whole, which is at risk of total collapse. The international institutionsí failure properly to discharge their duties (as was seen recently in Russia) and the concerns expressed by experts in world economics such as Ernst Welteke of the Bundesbank and the former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt give serious cause for concern about the risks of a financial crash that would hit not just the stock markets but the entire áspeculative bubbleí economy created by inflated share prices. Since the dollar was uncoupled from the gold standard on 15 August 1971, a gulf has opened up between the real economy and the financial economy. The latter has given rise to a huge speculative bubble that has completely altered the shape of the world economy and now represents a sum of at least USD 300 000 billion, as compared with a global GDP of USD 40 000 billion. This process has had a devastating effect on the economies and living standards of the developing countries (the events in Malaysia being a good example of this) and is having an adverse impact on production and employment levels even in the industrialised nations. Furthermore, operations aimed at refinancing the financial bubble and involving increases in liquidity levels could have an explosive inflationary effect on all prices, and not just share prices