WRITTEN QUESTION E-3848/02

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(9 January 2003)

Subject: Taking measures in advance to avoid accusations of partiality in the use of public funding in connection with referendums in the applicant countries on accession to the EU

1. Are referendums to be held in all ten of the applicant countries which are scheduled to join the EU on 1 May 2004 to ascertain whether the electorate accepts or rejects accession, or are there exceptions? In which States where the government intends to accede is no referendum planned?

2. Who is responsible for financing these referendums and who distributes any grants to pay for information or propaganda between the pro- and anti-accession camps?

3. What is being done to avert the risk that any businesses which are interested parties or any funds to which businesses make contributions may be given the opportunity to spend large sums on propaganda for a referendum result which they consider to be in their own interests?

4. Is the former member of the Estonian Parliament Ivar Raig right to say that 99,9 % of the funding which his country receives from the Commission to organise a referendum is going to the Yes to the EU camp and 0,1 % to the No to the EU camp? What are the criteria for allocating any referendum-connected EU funding to beneficiaries?

5. Does the Commission agree that substantial and one-sidedly biased financing from public or business sources for those who advocate accession could give rise to the suspicion or even the accusation that the electorate has been persuaded to vote in favour only by a costly propaganda bombardment?

6. What will the Commission do to avert the possibility that opinion polls in some of the new Member States before and after the referendum may find a majority against accession, despite the fact that at the time of the referendum itself a majority is in favour?

7. Will the Commission take measures to ensure that any funding for the public representation of conflicting points of view is divided equally between advocates and opponents, so that the results of referendums cannot subsequently become grounds for a constant political battle, accusations of violation of the right of self-determination of peoples or criticisms of the credibility of a democratic system?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(13 February 2003)

The Commission understands that referenda are planned in nine of the ten Candidate Countries due to ratify the Accession Treaty that will be signed in Athens on 16 April 2003.

In the case of Cyprus, a referendum is foreseen only in case the ongoing discussions on the basis of the proposals put forward by the Secretary General of the United Nations result in a political settlement.

In accordance with the provisions of Article 49 of the Treaty on the European Union, the Accession Treaty shall be submitted for ratification to all the contracting States in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements. The responsibility for organising a referendum lies with the relevant authorities in each Candidate Country concerned. The Commission does not fund, nor is otherwise involved with, the organisation of the referenda or the campaign associated with it in any Candidate Country.

The Commission operates a communication strategy for enlargement in all Member States and Candidate Countries. The strategy is largely decentralised and is managed through the Commission's Delegations/Representation Offices. In Estonia the Communication Strategy is financed by the PHARE budget and implemented by the Delegation of the Commission. The Honourable Member will find details of the current implementation of the communication strategy in the regular updates that are available on the web site of the Commission at http://europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/communication/index.htm.

The Estonian Government received through the PHARE 2001 budget EUR 300 000 for European Union information activities. The funds are used for providing objective information about the European Union.

Recently the Estonian Government, in partnership with the Open Estonia Foundation, announced a separate competition for civil society organisations aiming to provide Union information, including in the context of the referendum campaign. The competition has a total budget of 2,1 million Estonian kroons, funded by the State budget and the Soros Foundation. The Commission understands that half of that sum will be used for funding information projects and the other half to fund referendum campaign projects. This will channel about 500 000 Estonian kroons to those campaigning against accession, and a similar amount to those in favour. Further information is available on the web site of the Government European Information Secretariat at http://www.elis.ee/.

The Honourable Member would not expect the Commission to interfere in the domestic political arrangements of a future Member State in respect of the funding of their political campaigns, in the same way as the Commission plays no such role in exiting Member States.