WRITTEN QUESTION E-0597/00 by Charles Tannock (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Sanctions against Austria.
20. 2. 2001 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 53 E/13 In the majority of humanitarian aid crises, ECHO also relies on technical assistance in the field to monitor programmes on a daily basis and report to ECHO headquarters regularly. This is the case for Turkey where ECHO has an office in Istanbul. Partners are also required to submit regular reports during the life of the contract. The checks and balances outlined above all serve the same purpose, that is to ensure as far as possible the financial probity of humanitarian assistance programmes. Finally, in order that the Honourable Member has a complete overview of Community intervention related to the earthquakes in Turkey at this time, the following information relates to a recent initiative being implemented by the European Investment Bank. Council Decision No 1999/786/EC of 29 November 1999 provides for the granting of a Community guarantee to the European Investment Bank (EIB) against losses under loans for projects for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the earthquake-stricken areas of Turkey (2). This guarantee covers EIB loans amounting to € 600 million, over a three year period, for investment projects carried out for the replacement, rehabilitation or reconstruction of surface and sub-surface infrastructure, industrial installa- tions and small and medium-sized enterprises as well as urban infrastructure and housing. The first framework loan, amounting to € 450 million, was signed in February 2000. (1) OJ L 163, 2. 7. 1996. (2) OJ L 308, 3. 12. 1999. (2001/C 53 E/015) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0597/00 by Charles Tannock (PPE-DE) to the Commission (29 February 2000) Subject: Sanctions against Austria Can the Commission indicate whether it regards the decision by the Portuguese government to invite other EU governments to impose sanctions on a fellow Member State (Austria) as an abuse of the Presidency, and whether it regards the decision by fourteen mostly inexperienced Socialist governments to threaten to impose and to impose diplomatic sanctions on a Member State in order to affect the composition or policies (however disagreeable they might be) of a freely-elected government as a lack of respect for due democratic process within the Union and therefore, a violation of the principle of democracy referred to in Article 6(1) of the consolidated version of the Treaty on European Union on which the Euroepan Union is founded? If so, will the Commission uphold its role as áthe guardian of the Treatiesí by referring those governments which have imposed sanctions against Austria to the European Court of Justice for a determination on the legality of those sanctions, so that all European citizens will know in future whether it is legitimate for Member States to interfere in the democratic processes of other Member States in this way, and given the importance and seriousness of these unprecedented steps within the Union will the Commission send an explanation of its decision to the President of the European Parliament? Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission (4 May 2000) The Commission would refer the Honourable Member to its statement on Austria of 1 February 2000, in which it states that it shares the concerns underlying the declaration by the Portuguese Presidency of 31 January 2000 on behalf of 14 Member States and áwill continue to fulfil its duty as guardian of the provisions and values set down in the Treaties, which provide that the Union is founded on the principles of liberty, democracy, respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms and the rule of law, as set out notably in Articles 6 and 7 of the Treaty on European Unioní