WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2746/97 by Patricia McKENNA to the Commission. Independent assessments of projects in which assistance from the Cohesion Funds was sought
Date: 1997-09-01
Institutions: European Parliament, MCKENNA
Subjects: Cohesion Fund, EU financial instrument, European Commission, aid system, environmental impact, feasibility study, project evaluation, self-employed person, technology

C 102/108

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

3. 4. 98

Some of the refugees have been forcibly repatriated. On 20 July 1997, for example, a group of Burmese Muslims,
known as Rohingyas, were sent back to Burma by Bangladeshi security forces.

Has the Council made any representations to the Bangladeshi authorities to urge that UNHCR representatives be
allowed  interview  these  refugees  and  set  up  programmes  to  benefit  them?  If  not,  will  it  make  such
representations?

Has  it  contacted  the  Bangladeshi  authorities  to  seek  that  they  fulfil  their  responsibilities  under  the  Geneva
Convention and other international agreements not to forcibly repatriate those seeking to escape persecution? If
not, will it do so?

Answer

(21 November 1997)

1.

The Council is aware of the dramatic situation of the Burmese refugees in Bangladesh.

Numerous approaches have been made in the past to the Bangladeshi and UNHCR authorities to ensure that there
is adequate access to UN organizations operating locally and to prevent people being sent back wrongly.

It should be noted that Bangladesh has not ratified the Geneva Convention relating to the status of refugees.

In  view  of  the  recent  deterioration  in  the  situation  on  the  Burmese-Bangladeshi  frontier,  the  European
2.
Union is prepared to take the measures that are necessary, in particular de·marches in Dacca and contacts with the
UNHCR.

This matter is currently the subject of internal concertation in the Council.

(98/C 102/156)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2746/97

by Patricia McKenna (V) to the Commission

(1 September 1997)

Subject: Independent assessments of projects in which assistance from the Cohesion Funds was sought

Can the Commission list projects throughout the EU where it sought an independent assessment of their merits
before  deciding  whether  or  not  they  should  be  granted  the  assistance  under  the  cohesion  Funds  which  the
relevant authorities had applied for?

In each case, can the Commission state on what grounds it sought such independent assessment?

Answer given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission

(25 September 1997)

In accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 1164/94 establishing the Cohesion fund (1), the Commission
takes full responsibility for the evaluation of projects submitted for assistance.

The Commission does not keep a systematic record of the cases where, in considering Member State requests for
assistance from the Cohesion fund, it seeks an independent assessment of the project concerned.

Expert  advice  is  almost  routinely  commissioned  in  those  cases  where  the  Commission  has  doubts  on  the
technical solutions proposed by the Member States, where the application proposes advanced technical solutions
and, in particular, when the Commission has doubts with respect to the environmental impact or in relation to the
proposed compensating and corrective measures.

(1)  OJ L 130, 25.5.1994.