WRITTEN QUESTION No. 94/99 by Gerardo FERNÁNDEZ-ALBOR Community statements on the border agreements between Argentina and Chile
6. 11. 1999 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 320/127 any necessary amendments to the Directive in relation to the sectors concerned. The Commission will carry out the above mentioned task and make every effort to enable the Council and the Parliament to reach an agreement on spare parts when the Directive is revised. In the meantime, the Commission will also launch a consultation procedure with all interested parties, with the purpose of reaching a voluntary agreement among the parties concerned. (1999/C 320/169) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0094/99 by Gerardo Fernández-Albor (PPE) to the Commission (27 January 1999) Subject: Community statements on the border agreements between Argentina and Chile The age-old border disputes between Argentina and Chile have been reduced to a minimum because a succession of appropriate agreements has helped to remove the permanent tension between the two countries. The momentum thus generated in the sphere of coexistence that is the Southern Cone is a matter of the utmost significance because the agreements are the sign of a new political and diplomatic trend, opening up new prospects for peace, cooperation, and closer links and ties between the countries concerned and, by extension, other countries that might still be embroiled in border disputes of a similar kind. What Community statements have been made by the Commission or other EU institutions in response to the above-mentioned border agreements between Argentina and Chile and in recognition of the improvement in relations between the two countries at the political and diplomatic level? Answer given by Mr Marín on behalf of the Commission (23 February 1999) The Commission warmly welcomes the recent positive solution to the dispute between Chile and Argentina; it has overcome a number of difficulties in relations between the two countries over the area of the hielos continentales and has clearly contributed to consolidating security in Latin America’s Southern Cone. In its agreements with Latin American countries, including those with Chile and Argentina, the Community has always sought to promote closer relations between countries in a single region with the chief political aim being to establish permanent links and create an area of peace and stability. In more precise terms, Article 4 of the 1990 agreement between the Community and Argentina stipulates that Community cooperation should support the process of regional integration on which Argentina had embarked with other Latin American countries, taking account of the problems raised by border areas. This aim underlies the Commission’s activities in Latin America, particularly in the Southern Cone, and has been expressed in the form of support for the process of regional integration, encouraging synergy and convergence between national economies, promoting better trade, and developing political and inter- parliamentary dialogue. In the setting of the Rio Group, the Community has established political dialogue on issues including confidence-building and security, discussed at seminars in Punta del Este, Quito and Santa Cruz de la Sierra which produced stimulating exchanges of views on the major security concerns in Latin America and Europe. The Commission will continue to work towards extending and consolidating relations between the Community and Latin America with the central aim of maintaining peace and security