WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3023/96 by Luciano VECCHI to the Commission. Full accession of Somalia to the Fourth Lomé Convention
Date: 1996-11-11
Institutions: European Parliament, VECCHI
Subjects: ACP-EU Joint Assembly, European Development Fund, Somalia, fourth Lomé Convention, humanitarian aid













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91996E3023

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3023/96 by Luciano VECCHI to the Commission. Full accession of Somalia to the Fourth Lomé Convention  


Official Journal C 105 , 03/04/1997 P. 0043 





WRITTEN QUESTION E-3023/96 by Luciano Vecchi (PSE) to the Commission (11 November 1996)Subject: Full accession of Somalia to the Fourth Lomé ConventionAt the recent ACP-EU Council meeting in Western Samoa a resolution was adopted calling on all the interested parties to make the necessary arrangements for Somalia to be accepted as a full member of the Lomé Convention, a proposal which has also been put forward by the ACP-EU Joint Assembly.What action has been, or is due to be, taken to achieve this objective?Answer given by Mr Pinheiro on behalf of the Commission (27 January 1997)As Somalia can accede to the Lomé IV bis Convention on the basis of Article 364bis, the Commission's primary concern is to continue to work towards the fulfilment of basic conditions for accession, and in particular the restoration of a situation in which the Somali people find a sufficient level of governmental organisation to enable Somalia to request accession to the Convention. So long as this does not prove possible, the Commission will continue to confirm that from a political point of view Somalia belongs to the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP) family, as already declared in the ACP-Community council of ministers resolution of June 1996.As for the measures that could enable the Somali people to benefit from the range of European development fund (EDF) instruments, the Commission draws the attention of the Honourable Member to the fact that the Commission is committed to continue to finance humanitarian operations out of the Community budget whilst rehabilitation operations in Somalia will continue to be funded using the balances remaining under Somalia's Lomé II and Lomé III national indicative programmes (5th and 6th EDF). In addition, as 7th EDF resources are no longer available to Somalia, because Somalia failed to ratify the Lomé IV Convention within the period foreseen in the Convention, other funds are mobilised in support of rehabilitation activities from various budget lines. Sufficient resources are thus available to continue to help the people of Somalia for the coming years.Concerning the 8th EDF, the Commission recalls that a major measure adopted in favour of Somalia consists in the accelerated accession procedure agreed between the parties to the Convention at the end of 1995 in Mauritius and contained in Article 364bis which is a modification to the normal accession procedures allowing Somalia to join the Lomé IV Convention during its lifetime. Awaiting such accession and unless other modifications are adopted in the future in favour of Somalia by the parties to the Lomé Convention, the Commission is not in a position to assist Somalia unilaterally from 8th EDF resources. However, the Commission will continue to put forward ideas and suggestions if specific needs remain unmet. Within this context, a second rehabilitation programme amounting to 47 MECU has been adopted which will cover the needs for the coming years.