WRITTEN QUESTION No. 39/99 by Umberto BOSSI , Luigi MORETTI , Marco FORMENTINI , Gipo FARASSINO to the Commission. A racist incident in an Italian school
21. 7. 1999 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 207/171 The Commission has not started an investigation into the suspended tariff restructuring and is, therefore, unable to say whether the increase in charges results from an agreement between the two competitors on the GSM mobile telecommunications market and whether any such agreement would be in breach of the rules on consumer protection. As regards publication by TIM of its new charges, the EC Treaty does not empower the Commission to impose penalties for any cases of misleading advertising. Nevertheless, Parliament and Council Directive 98/10/EC of 26 February 1998 on the application of open network provision (ONP) to voice telephony and on universal service for telecommunications in a competitive environment (1) stipulates that the national regulatory authorities are to ensure in particular that tariffs for end-users and the conditions for renewing contracts are presented clearly and accurately. The Commission will continue to ensure, in close conjunction with the national competition authorities and the national telecommunications regulator, that the competition rules and the relevant Community directives are complied with. In any event, application by competing mobile operators of identical charges for the termination of fixed-to- mobile telephone traffic reflects the fact that competition is not yet sufficiently developed on the mobile market in Italy. The entry of a third mobile operator will probably increase consumer choice as regards termination charges for calls from fixed to mobile telephones. Authorisation for a fourth operator will add further to the pressure on current call charges. (1) OJ L 101, 1. 4. 1998. (1999/C 207/238) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0039/99 by Umberto Bossi (NI), Luigi Moretti (NI), Marco Formentini (NI) and Gipo Farassino (NI) to the Commission Subject: A racist incident in an Italian school (20 January 1999) In the last few days there have been reports in the Italian press, in particular the daily newspapers ‘La Repubblica’, ‘Il Corriere della Sera’, ‘La Provincia Pavese’ and ‘La Padana’, about a serious violation of the civil rights of a pupil, the eleven-year-old Paolo Buttaboni, at a middle school in Mirandolo Terme (Pavia). His physical education teacher, Anna Conforte, tore off him a T-shirt bearing the name of ‘Padania Calcio’, a football team which is officially registered with CONI (Italian Olympic Committee) and plays many matches in both the north and the south of Italy. The teacher also threatened to ask relatives of hers from southern Italy to beat up the child and his parents. It should be noted that neither the child nor his parents are political or party activists. The deputy head Giancarla Simonini defended the teacher. The other children were urged to show their contempt for their fellow pupil and to wear their own favourite teams’ T-shirts, whilst the pupil himself was forced to write out the words of the Italian national anthem fifty times. This is a serious example of racism, perpetrated moreover by a teacher, which goes against all European laws and regulations on the freedom of the individual and the family. Is the Commission aware of this racist incident? Does it intend to express its views on the incident, in view of its commitment to actively combating all examples of racism? Answer given by Mr Flynn on behalf of the Commission (2 March 1999) The Commission attaches a great deal of importance to awareness-raising campaigns in schools and amongst young people to promote tolerance. However, it does not believe that the case presented by the Honourable Members comes under its jurisdiction. It is up to the Member States themselves to detect and penalise specific cases of discrimination arising in their territory