WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2205/98 by Kirsten JENSEN to the Commission. Cooperation with the Mafia in Uzbekistan
C 13/154 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 18. 1. 1999 (1999/C 13/219) WRITTEN QUESTION P-2205/98 by Kirsten Jensen (PSE) to the Commission (10 July 1998) Subject: Cooperation with the Mafia in Uzbekistan According to a series of articles in Potitiken of 18 and 19 March 1998 Carlsberg, the large Danish brewery, 1. is cooperating with Gafur Rakhimov, an Uzbek who is involved in the drugs trade and has close connections with the Mafia in Uzbekistan. Gafur Rakhimov is allegedly blacklisted in all Schengen countries and therefore prevented from obtaining a visa in the EU. Does the Commission consider it to be a problem that European companies are cooperating in this way with people blacklisted under the Schengen agreement? 2. There are reports that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is participating as an investor in the project and therefore also cooperating with Gafur Rakhimov. Can the Commission confirm this? 3. Is there any possibility of the Community intervening in this and similar cases? Is the Commission considering taking the initiative to intervene either in this specific case or in similar 4. cases? 5. Will the entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty in any way change the answer to these questions? Answer given by Mrs Gradin on behalf of the Commission (23 July 1998) The Commission would point out that this question is exactly the same as the Honourable Memberís Written Question E-1075/98. The Commission would therefore refer the Honourable Member to the answer it has already given to that question (1). (1) OJ C 386, 11. 12. 1998, p. 78. (1999/C 13/220) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2225/98 by Kirsi Piha (PPE) to the Commission (16 July 1998) Subject: Situation in Tibet; EU policy on Tibet Tibetís political and spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, visited Finland on 19 June, eliciting assessments as to what the EU might be able and willing to do to adopt a common policy on Tibet. This would be desirable, as it would make it possible to intervene effectively in the human rights situation in Tibet and for the EU, in common with others, to exert pressure on the negotiations between China and Tibet. Does the Commission have any plans for adopting a common EU policy on Tibet, and if so, what would its broad outlines be? Answer given by Sir Leon Brittan on behalf of the Commission (4 August 1998) The Commission recalls that Tibet has regularly been addressed in the framework of both the EU-China political dialogue and the specific bilateral EU-China dialogue on human rights. There was a visit to Tibet 1-10 May 1998 by the troika heads of mission in Beijing