WRITTEN QUESTION No. 298/98 by Leonie van BLADEL to the Council. Obstinate attitude of a Netherlands Junior Minister with regard to the solution to a conflict with Russian partners
C 196/30 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 22. 6. 98 aid programme was unlawful. Both the Netherlands state and Koninklijke Ahold N. V. refuse to settle the damages in a correct manner and are forcing the Russian partner into a costly, unnecessary and lengthy procedure. Is the Council aware that the case, which is expected to last several years › whether or not there is a positive or negative result for the plaintiffs, › will have an adverse effect on future aid programmes and the mutual trust and stability in relations with Eastern Europe. Does the Council not consider that there is gross negligence on the part of Koninklijke Ahold N. V. , when, despite the clear indication by the Amsterdam court that Koninklijke Ahold N. V. is liable for damages, that company and the Netherlands state refuse to hold any proper discussions with the injured party, in this case the Russian partner Tonar? The study commissioned by the EU and carried out by Koninklijke Ahold N. V. , shows that the 2. establishment of a food wholesaler business, in this case a distribution centre, is the key priority. Koninklijke Ahold made this conclusion a priority in its August 1992 report. Does the Council not find it strange that the country providing assistance. In the framework of the TACIS aid programme, in this case the Netherlands, refuses to meet the key wishes of the country receiving assistance, in this case Russia, and also that the agreements made between the Netherlands and Russia have consistently not been fulfilled, even after it was shown that the Russians had fully satisfied all conditions set by the European Union and the Netherlands Ministry for Economic Affairs? (98/C 196/43) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0298/98 by Leonie van Bladel (UPE) to the Council (17 February 1998) Subject: Obstinate attitude of a Netherlands Junior Minister with regard to the solution to a conflict with Russian partners 1. Is the Council aware that a summons has been taken out by the Russian Tonar Corporation, a semi-public enterprise, before The Hague Crown Court against the State of the Netherlands and the Dutch multinational, Koninklijke Ahold NV? Does not the Council feel that the totally unsuccessful TACIS project, undertaken by the Ministry for 2. Economic Affairs and Koninklijke Ahold NV and subsidized by EU funds, should have been solved in a manner more elegant than one involving the courts, as the Netherlands Junior Minister for Economic Affairs is proposing? Can the Council accept the notion that Russian confidence in the operation of the free market and, 3. indirectly, the security and stability which Europe is endeavouring to secure, are being undermined in particular by the obstinate manner in which the Netherlands Junior Minister for Economic Affairs is refusing to bring the parties together round a table, as proposed by the Dutch MPs Van Walsem, Leers and De Koning, in order to seek a solution, all the more so since Aholdís conduct, like the conduct of the Netherlands Ministry for Economic Affairs, is destroying the average Russianís confidence in initiatives from Western Europe, also in the light of the previous ruling of the Amsterdam Court which, in an earlier judgment, ruled Koninklijke Ahold NVís conduct unlawful? On the basis of the foregoing, is the Council prepared to support the proposal that talks between the parties 4. be organized with a view to restoring the average Russianís confidence in initiatives from Western Europe by making an urgent appeal to the Netherlands Junior Minister for Economic Affairs to abandon her obstinate attitude? Joint answer to Written Questions E-3886/97, E-4158/97 and E-0298/98 (7 April 1998) The TACIS programme provides technical assistance for economic reforms in Russia and, through the transfer of áknow-howí, measures which will, inter alia, ensure the transition to a market economy. With the collapse of the USSR, the provision of food supplies to Russiaís cities posed major problems, warranting a large-scale Community food aid operation. Structural requirements linked to transition to a market economy in this area led the Community to make the production, processing and distribution of foodstuffs one of the priorities for TACIS Programme intervention