91998E1397

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1397/98 by Leonie van Bladel (UPE) to the Council (6 May 1998)

Subject: Legal aid for EU prisoners in Morocco

1. Is the Council aware of the helpless situation in which suspects from countries of the European Union are placed when they are deprived of adequate legal aid, the assistance of professional interpreters, or adequate humanitarian aid in Morocco, a country where they have no notion of the language?

2. Does the Council realize the serious consequences which such a lack of professional support may have for EU nationals in court proceedings?

3. Is the Council aware that the prisoners in Morocco from EU Member States include a number of people aged over 70 who are in a state of cultural isolation and are suffering disproportionately as a result?

4. Is the Council aware that, following the visit in October 1997 of the Netherlands official delegation headed by Mr Damoiseaux, Head of the African Department of The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Netherlands Foreign Ministry has made no further contacts with the Moroccan Government to negotiate a treaty for the transfer of prisoners to The Netherlands to enable them complete their sentences in Netherlands prisons?

5. Why has there been no response to the Moroccan Government's offer, made in October 1997, to negotiate with the Netherlands Government on a treaty to enable Netherlands citizens to serve their sentences in the Netherlands, in their own cultural surroundings? This question is particularly pertinent since the Moroccan Government has already signed similar treaties with France, the UK, Spain, Portugal, Malta and Belgium among others. In 1997, within half a year, the Moroccan Government negotiated its treaty with the Belgian Government, and signed the final agreement with Belgium. Why should the completion of a similar treaty between The Netherlands and Morocco take longer than this?

Joint answer to Written Questions E-1396/98 and E-1397/98 (6 July 1998)

The issues the Honourable Member raises in Written Question No 1396/98 and in points 4 and 5 of her Written Question No 1397/98 do not fall within the Council's sphere of competence.

The matters referred to in points 1, 2 and 3 of Written Question No 1397/98 have never been discussed by the Council.