WRITTEN QUESTION E-2317/00

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Council

(11 July 2000)

Subject: Avoiding European involvement in Colombia's domestic conflicts

1. Is the Council aware that the territory of a Member State of the European Union is becoming increasingly involved in the American intervention in the domestic politics of Colombia; i.e. the Caribbean islands of Aruba and Curaçao, which belong to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, are being used as a Forward Operating Location for aircraft which, in the South of Colombia, are continuously spraying with toxic pesticides territory controlled by the resistance movement FARC which is fighting against big business and the traditional lack of democracy (source: Nederland 1 TV channel; Netwerk current affairs programme of 21 June 2000)?

2. Is the Council also aware that the results of this intervention are that:

(a) after each spraying operation adults become ill and young children rapidly die;

(b) there is a significant reduction in the scope for normal cultivation of crops (manioc, bananas or other fruit) other than coca, with the result that the farmers become even more dependent on the drugs trade and there is a further increase in the 100 000 ha already under coca cultivation;

(c) there is virtually no prospect of FARC's efforts to stop the cultivation of coca succeeding;

(d) the remaining jungle is being affected by the poison and by slash and burn to obtain arable land which is not yet poisoned;

(e) the peace talks between the Colombian government and FARC (even the government does not believe that FARC is involved with the drug mafia) are hampered?

3. Is the Council aware that a proposal is to be submitted to the Dutch parliament following an earlier agreement in April 2000 for an agreement to be signed between the Netherlands and the US for a further ten years to enable the flights over Colombia to continue, and that the Americans stationed on Aruba and Curaçao are automatically protected from criminal or civil proceedings?

4. Does the Council agree that a clear distinction needs to be made between, on the one hand, action to stop hard drugs being transported from Colombia via Aruba and Curaçao to Europe and, on the other hand, participation in foreign intervention against a movement which controls part of Colombia the former being desirable, the latter not and that it is important to distance oneself from the American viewpoint that the fight against the guerrilla movement is part of the fight against drugs?

5. How does the Council envisage preventing any European involvement in foreign intervention in a domestic political conflict in Colombia and preventing Member States from allowing themselves to be dragged into such conflicts?

Reply

(9 November 2000)

The European Union is monitoring the situation in Colombia closely, together with Colombia's government, civil society and the NGOs present in the country. It is aware of the many, serious interrelated problems facing Colombia, and considers it essential that an integrated approach be taken to solve these problems.

The Union has repeatedly reaffirmed its intention to support, wherever possible and by the most appropriate means, the efforts made towards a peace process in Colombia based on observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The European Union has also reaffirmed the utmost importance of the fight against drugs, which directly concerns all Member States and their citizens. In this respect Colombia benefits from the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) and, since 1990, from the additional temporary SPA system in the fight against drugs. An agreement was signed in 1995, and is now in force, between the European Union and the Andean countries on chemical precursors.

Furthermore, the European Union has set up a Mechanism for cooperation on drugs with the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, for which the action plan was adopted in April 1999, and which was endorsed by the Heads of State or Government at the Summit between the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1999. The Mechanism, which held its second meeting on 22/23 May 2000 in Lisbon, gives both parties an essential framework for the coordination of their efforts in combating drugs.