WRITTEN QUESTION P-0664/00

by Hubert Pirker (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(29 February 2000)

Subject: Minorities in the CEECs

The Commission not only has a mandate from the Copenhagen European Council, but also an obligation under Article F of the 1992 EU Treaty, to ensure respect for the principle of the protection of minorities, including in future Member States. The superficial and cursory manner in which the problems of minorities are dealt with in the opinions concerning the applicant countries of July 1997 and the progress reports of December 1998 and October 1999 do not suggest that the Commission is giving the necessary attention to, or is adequately informed on, this subject. The texts in question are one-sided in their concentration on the citizenship problems of non-native Russian immigrants in the Baltic States and the social problems faced by Roma in central and eastern Europe and the Balkans. A thorough examination by the Commission of the following difficult issues, rather than its usual terse observations, would therefore be welcomed.

Under the Bene decrees and the Jajce and AVNOJ decisions of 1945, the whole of the German and Hungarian ethnic groups in the then Czechoslovakia, who represented almost 30 % of the population of the country, as well as ethnic Germans and German-speaking Austrians in areas of the then Yugoslavia formerly belonging to Austria, were deprived of their rights, outlawed and expropriated without compensation. These unjust decrees remain in force in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia. On 8 March 1995 the Czech constitutional court in Brünn declared the Benes decrees legal and legitimate.

Indiscriminately making whole ethnic groups, including everyone from infants to old men, responsible for war crimes committed by others, as is the case with the above decrees, and collectively punishing them, even to the point of mass murder, is itself unanimously viewed as a war crime from the standpoint of civilised legal opinion. The European Court of Human Rights has stated its position unequivocally on this issue. The Commission alone is persistently silent on the issue of these unjust laws remaining in force in the three applicant countries for accession.

Would it not ultimately be in the interests of the applicant countries themselves if the Commission were to point out to them unequivocally and openly the need for these glaringly discriminatory rules to be abolished as soon as possible and for the victims to be compensated, as such unjust laws cannot in any case be maintained following accession to the EU?

Will this fundamental shortcoming in Czech, Slovak and Slovenian legislation be dealt with in the next progress reports?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(24 March 2000)

As future Member States, the candidate countries have undertaken to fulfil the criteria with respect to the rule of law and adherence to human rights principles. However, the Benes decrees and the Jajce/AVNOJ decisions were adopted and implemented before the founding of the Community and before the entry into force of the Treaty of Rome.

The candidates will have to adopt and implement all areas of Community legislation and policy. Article 295 (ex Article 222) EC Treaty states explicitly that it shall in no way prejudice the rules in the Member States governing the system of property ownership. The Commission therefore has no competence for intervening in questions relating to restitution of property in a current or future Member State.

The Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia are contracting parties to the European convention for the protection of human rights (ECHR). The implementation of the ECHR is the responsibility of the Council of Europe. Questions concerning issues arising under this convention should be addressed to the Council of Europe.

In the light of the above, the regular reports focus on the progress made by the candidates in preparation for membership to the Union, in particular the rate at which they are adopting the Union acquis. In this context, the Commission will continue to follow the method adopted by Agenda 2000 in evaluating candidate countries' ability to meet economic criteria and fulfil the obligations deriving from accession.