WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2235/97 by Patricia McKENNA to the Commission. US military aid to Congo (formerly Zaïre)
C 21/144 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 22. 1. 98 (98/C 21/267) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2226/97 by Frode Kristoffersen (PPE) to the Commission (30 June 1997) Subject: Sexual harassment in the workplace Does the Commission consider its plans to implement EU rules on the degree and scale of sexual harassment in the workplace in individual Member States to be in keeping with the principle of subsidiarity, and has it occurred to it that the outlook (including legal usage) is largely conditioned by national attitudes to ethics and education, which must be taken to mean that a set of EU rules on the subject would be impossible to enforce? Answer given by Mr Flynn on behalf of the Commission (4 August 1997) The Commission is currently consulting the social partners on the objectives and the content of a Community initiative on sexual harassment. The Community institutions have repeatedly emphasised the importance of dealing effectively with this issue of equal opportunities and health and safety for all employees throughout the Community. Research has shown that sexual harassment is a problem in the workplace, and furthermore that very few Member States have a sufficient system of prevention to deal with it. The current Community definition of behaviour constituting sexual harassment in the 1990 Council Resolution (1) on the protection of the dignity of women and men at work, includes an element of the recipientís subjective understanding of the situation, and thus takes into account possible cultural differences. The Commission acts in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity in formulating all its proposals. (1) OJ C 157, 27. 6. 1990. (98/C 21/268) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2235/97 by Patricia McKenna (V) to the Commission (2 July 1997) Subject: US military aid to Congo (formerly Za ¤re) A report in The International Herald Tribune (9 June 1997) refers to a suggestion by the US representative to the United Nations that the Clinton administration is willing to give military aid to the new Government of Congo áas an incentive to maintain human rights standardsí. Many would view this as a worrying development, given that arms sales have already exacerbated tensions in the Great Lakes Region. Western-supplied arms are believed to have played an important role in the genocide witnessed in Rwanda, for example. Has the US Government given any details to the Commission or other EU institutions about the nature of its planned military cooperation with Congo? What action does the Commission propose to take? Answer given by Mr Pinheiro on behalf of the Commission (22 July 1997) The Commission wishes to bring to the attention of the Honourable Member the conclusions of the Council (General Affairs) on 2 June 1997 on the prevention and resolution of conflicts in Africa, in which the Member States, árecognising that the availability of arms in quantities exceeding needs for self-defence may be