91998E3883

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3883/98

by Michl Ebner (PPE) to the Council

(4 January 1999)

Subject: European Civilian Service

Most Member States of the Union acknowledge civilian service, but some, like Greece, do not. Accordingly, in the latter instance, people who refuse to undertake military service on religious or conscientious grounds are persecuted by national authorities.

On 22 September 1995, the European Parliament adopted a resolution (B4-1127/95)(1) on the establishment of a European Civilian Service in which it called on the Commission to submit a proposal for the establishment of a European Civilian Service.

Does the Council intend:

- as part of the process for the harmonisation of the legal system in the European Union, to put in hand an approximation of the relevant laws of the various Member States, and

- does it intend, in connection with the mobility of the inhabitants of the European Union, to devise a system which would permit the establishment of a genuine European Civilian Service or enable individuals to serve in a Civilian Service in a Member State of the Union other their own?

Reply

(9 March 1999)

The Honourable Member suggests devising a system that would permit the establishment of a European Civilian Service; however, the Treaties do not give the European Union any powers to harmonise Member States' legal systems in this regard.

(1) OJ C 269, 16.10.1995, p. 232.