4. Callson the appropriate bodies ofthe European Uniontoensure the correct use ofEuropean Union
cooperation funds in Nicaragua and to report back to Parliament;
5. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the Government
and Parliament of Nicaragua, the Parliament of Central America and the President of the Audit Office ofthe Republic of Nicaragua, Mr Agustín Jarquín.
16. International criminal court
B5-0337, 0344, 0349, 0373 and 0386/1999
European Parliament resolution on the ratification of the Rome treaty to establish the permanent
International Criminal Court
The European Parliament,
A. whereas,inJuly1998,inRome,theStatuteofaPermanentInternationalCriminalCourtwasadopted,
establishing for the first time a court with international jurisdiction to judge independently thoseresponsible for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity,
B. whereas the Court and its work do not depend on a specific political mandate from the UN Security
Council and will be presided over by an Independent Prosecutor,
C. whereas the Court’s jurisdiction, although operating in complementarity to national jurisdictions, will
enableittojudge crimes perpetrated during internal conflictsaswellashaving the capacity todecide,in controversial cases, the respective spheres of competence,
D. congratulating the six states that have already ratified the ICC Rome Statute and those countries,
including the EU Member States and the applicant countries, that are at present carrying out theinternal procedures for ratification,
E. whereas, for the Court to begin functioning, at least 60 countries must deposit the instruments of
ratification at the United Nations,
F. whereas a Preparatory Commissionhas been mandated by the Rome Conference to finalise the Rules
of Procedure and Evidence and the Elements of Crimes by June 2000,
1. Urges the 14 Member States ofthe EU andthe applicant countries that have notyet ratified the ICC
Rome Statute to do so as soon as possible;
2. CallsontheCouncilandtheCommissiontoclearlysetthegoaloftheentryintoforceoftheCourt’s
jurisdiction by 31 December 2000 as a priority of the Union’s foreign policy, including the negotiationprocess with all the applicant countries;
3. Asks,therefore, boththeCouncilandtheCommissiontotakefirmactioninordertopersuadethose
States that have not yet approved the Statute of the Court to accept its jurisdiction as binding and to dotheir utmost to ensure that the Preparatory Commission completes its work by the set deadline of June2000;
4. Asks the Member States to take action in all the appropriate fora to speed up execution of the
required procedures by the Preparatory Commission;
5. Asks the Council, the Commission and the Member States to support, through voluntary contribu-
tions, the trust funds established by the UN General Assembly whose mandate comprises the costs ofparticipation in the work of the Preparatory Commission of the least developed countries and of thosedeveloping countries not covered by UNGA resolutions and to support the international campaigns forthe effective entry into force of the ICC;18.10.2000 EN C 296/207 Official Journal of the European Communities
Thursday 16 December 1999
6. Decides that it is politically relevant to send its own parliamentary delegation to the next working
session of the preparatory commission, which will finalise the annexes to the Court’s Statute shortly inNew York, and asks parliaments of Member States to send parliamentary observers to the PreparatoryCommission;
7. InstructsitsPresident toforward thisresolutiontothe Councilandthe Commission,the parliaments
of the Member States, the governments and parliaments of applicant countries, and to the Secretary-Gen-eral of the United Nations.
17. Natural disasters: France
B5-0334, 0345, 0374 and 0387/1999
European Parliament resolution on flooding in the South of France
The European Parliament,
A. having regard to the particularly severe weather conditions and the exceptional rain in the South of
France, in four départements in particular (Tarn, Aude, Pyrénées-Orientales and Hérault) in the night of
Friday to Saturday, 12 to 13 November 1999,
B. whereas several dozen people were killed,C. whereas thousands of people in the region are still facing hardship, enormous damage has been
caused to road and transport infrastructure, many homes have been destroyed and there are seriouseconomic and social consequences for the inhabitants, businesses and farms,
D. having regard to the scale of the disaster and the funds which have been made available to restore
normal living conditions,
1. Expresses its sympathy and support for the families of the victims and with the people who have
been injured;
2. Welcomes the Commission’s undertaking to Parliament on 16 November 1999 to adjust and adapt
the funding allocated to France to cope with the urgency of the situation;
3. Calls on the Commission to take exceptional emergency aid measures to assist the victims of this
natural disaster and to supplement the action taken by the French government and the local authorities
by using the facilities afforded by the Structural Funds, in particular by redeploying the outstanding bal-
ance on the 1994-1999 programming period;
4. Believes that the new regional development programme for 2000-2006 financed by the Structural
Funds should include substantial funding aimed at preventing natural disasters and systematic prior evalu-ation of the environmental impact of the projects financed;
5. Calls on the Commission, in view of the damage suffered by the region, to make particularly sure
that the four départements are properly takenintoaccount when the zoneseligible forStructural Fundsare
defined for the period 2000-2006;
6. Calls on the Commission to submit to the Council a proposal for a decision to release exceptional
Community aid for the reconstruction of disaster areas, identical to the aid which certain Member Stateshave benefited from in comparable situations;
7. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments
and parliaments of the Member States and the members of the regional council and local councils of thedépartements of Tarn, Aude, Pyrénées-Orientales and Hérault.C 296/208 EN18.10.2000 Official Journal of the European Communities
Thursday 16 December 1999