EUROPEAN PARLAMENT

FORM FOR TABLING PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS
to the COMMISSION

WRITTEN QUESTIONS
AUTOR: Miquel MAYOL i RAYNAL
SUBJECT:National census in Poland

A national census will start in May this year in Poland. Among a number of questions to be asked, two are related to "national" considerations: nationality and language.

Officially the Polish authorities say that everyone has the right to declare its own nationality and they corroborate that all the answers must be put down in application forms by census collectors as given by individuals, according to the self-definition of the respondent. But the Main Office for Statistics (Glowny Urzad Statystyczny-GUS) has already announced that only eleven nationalities will be officially recognised during the census (Silesian nationality, for exemple, will not be considered).

In an Upper Silesian regional paper called "Dzien" ("A Day") of March 4th 2002 the officials of the GUS informed that the census collectors will induce Silesians not to declare Silesian nationality but Polish. In the same report GUS officials have suggested that even though Silesian nationality is declared and put in an application form, it will not be considered during the electronic preparation of data collected during the census.

Has the Commission any information about the national census in Poland? Is the Commission aware of the problem of non-respect of the self-definition of the nationality as given of the respondent? Is the Commission going to ask further information to the Polish authorities?

Does the Commission share the opinion that the only democratic and transparent way of preceding is to publish the results of the national census reflecting exactly the answers given by citizens, with no manipulation?