WRITTEN QUESTION E-0847/00 by Marie-Arlette Carlotti (PSE) to the Commission. Installation of a delegation to Havana and cooperation with Cuba.
C 374 E/170 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 28. 12. 2000 Once the Regulation is adopted, a multilateral exercise to programme anti-mine activities will be launched. It will be based on the general policy guidelines and will include both horizontal activities and activities linked to particular countries or regions. The multiannual programme will be published and will therefore be accessible to all non-governmental organisations. The latter are already the main recipients of Community funds, directly or indirectly. Partnership agreements are also planned to execute the multi- annual projects. 2. With regard to the criteria to be applied to helping people affected by anti-personnel mines in countries that have not signed up to the Ottawa Convention, the Commission is carefully verifying several factors, sometimes individually, sometimes together; firstly, as the question suggests, information on the state of the affected population groups for whom a country requests mine clearance assistance; the countryís practice with regard to the production and storage of and trade in mines; the degree of acceptance of support measures for accession to the Convention, and verification that neither commercial nor scientific goals are being pursued with the aid of Community assistance. It is also important, in some to know how the mines (or unexploded devices) came to be laid. This list of background cases, information is not exhaustive but gives an idea of the approach the Commission intends to adopt. 3. This approach is obviously reflected in political dialogue both with the countries which have applied for membership and with other countries. The proposed Regulation, which is not limited to mines but covers all unexploded devices, also addresses the problems of storage and accumulation of such devices. The Commission wastes no opportunity to cooperate with non-member countries to speed up the eradication of this scourge, both by improving coordination of our respective policies and by putting together the resources necessary to develop better instruments and strategies. (2000/C 374 E/200) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0847/00 by Marie-Arlette Carlotti (PSE) to the Commission (21 March 2000) Subject: Installation of a delegation to Havana and cooperation with Cuba Recently Cuba officially requested its accession to the ACP-EU agreements. At a time when this partnership is starting up again on a new basis, we must open the door to Cuba to encourage its own opening. Currently, Cuba is the only country in Latin America and the Caribbean not to have concluded a cooperation framework agreement with the European Union. With a rapid accession to the new ACP-EU agreement it should be possible to proceed to a cooperation framework agreement with a view to formalising and redefining the cooperative ties between Cuba and the European Union. The early installation of a Commission Delegation to Havana would open the way to intensifying the dialogue with the authorities and all sectors of Cuban society to define future cooperation between the European Union and Cuba. Is such a plan being considered by the Commission? If so, how soon? How does the Commission propose to strengthen and formalise cooperation with Cuba? Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission (12 May 2000) For the Honourable Memberís first question concerning the opening of a Commission delegation in Cuba, pleas see the reply to Written Question E-0615/00 from Mr Miranda (1). 28. 12. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 374 E/171 In response to the second question on the formalising and strengthening cooperation with Cuba, we should point out that Cuba sent a letter to the ACP-EC Council of Ministers on 10 March confirming its wish to be come a signatory to the new ACP-EC Partnership Agreement. This request is currently being studied by the Commission and the Council. In the shorter term, and independently of the talks on the new Partnership Agreement, the Commission is evaluating its cooperation with Cuba in order to identify, in the EU common position, the best way of using the various cooperation instruments, especially the idea of humanitarian aid. The aim of such a change in the structure of aid is to make our cooperation more effective. (1) See page 118. (2000/C 374 E/201) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0849/00 by Antonio Tajani (PPE-DE), Pier Casini (PPE-DE), Giorgio Lisi (PPE-DE), Amalia Sartori (PPE-DE), Renato Brunetta (PPE-DE) and Vittorio Sgarbi (PPE-DE) to the Commission Subject: Protection of the ethnic minority in Slovenia and Croatia (21 March 2000) Is the Commission aware of the serious and continuous violations of fundamental individual freedoms and property rights to which Italian citizens living in Slovenia and Croatia have been, and continue to be, subjected, in that their rightful property, of which they were dispossessed by the Yugoslavian Communist regime, has not been returned to them? What does the Commission intend to do to ensure that the governments of these countries take measures to protect the 350 000 Italian exiles who have been deprived of their nationality and ethnic group, are effectively condemned to lifelong exile? legal certainty and who, because of What steps does the Commission intend to take to ensure that the laws of countries like Slovenia, which is set to join the European Union, and Croatia respect the basic principles of the EU legal framework and combat all kinds of discrimination on the basis of nationality? How does the Commission intend to foster compliance with: 1. 2. 3. 4. the Declaration on Human Rights; the Amsterdam Treaty (Article 6); the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide; the UN conference on human settlements (Habitat), Vancouver, 31 May 1976? Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission (27 April 2000) Full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, including those of minorities, has always been a priority in the Commissionís external relations. With regard to Croatia, in particular, the Commission has always been highly critical in its regular reports on the country and in its contacts with the previous Croat leadership on this point, full observance of human and minority rights being a precondition to any improvement in relations between the Community and Croatia. The same message has been given to the new Croat Government, stressing the importance of genuine implementation of international legislation on this issue. The priority given to respect for human rights, with particular reference to minority rights, was also enshrined in the first recommendations of the EU- Croatia Consultative Task Force, which called on the Croat Government to undertaken the necessary