WRITTEN QUESTION No. 431/98 by Leonie van BLADEL to the Commission. Refusal by Slovenia to grant citizenship to 70 000 residents
Date: 1998-02-24
Institutions: European Parliament, VAN BLADEL
Subjects: Slovenia, human rights, nationality, refugee, stateless person

9. 10. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 310/63

(98/C 310/81)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0431/98

by Leonie van Bladel (UPE) to the Commission

(24 February 1998)

Subject: Refusal by Slovenia to grant citizenship to 70 000 residents

According to the Slovenian human rights organization (cid:145)Helsinki Monitor for Slovenia(cid:146), almost 70 000 residents
of the Republic of Slovenia, who have lived there since before the collapse of the former Yugoslavia in 1991,
have still not been granted Slovenian nationality. According to this organization, which speaks in some cases of
(cid:145)administrative ethnic cleansing(cid:146), between seven and ten thousand of these are the children of mixed marriages
(i.e. with one non-Slovene parent).

Does not the Commission consider that the failure to grant nationality to persons who are entitled to it under
Slovenian law (because they were already resident in Slovenia in 1991) is a violation of their human rights?

Is  the  Commission  prepared  to  ask  the  Slovenian  Government  for  clarification  on  this  issue  and  to  urge  this
matter to be settled as soon as possible?

Answer given by Mr Van den Broek on behalf of the Commission

(3 April 1998)

According  to  current  United  Nations  high  commissioner  for  refugees  (UNHCR)  estimates,  there  are
approximately 5 000 to 10 000 stateless people in Slovenia, who, for a variety of reasons, have neither requested
Slovene  nationality  nor  claimed  refugee  status  inside  the  deadline  of  31  December  1991  set  by  the  Slovene
government after independence.

The  Slovene  authorities  have  undertaken  to  take  steps  to  resolve  the  issue.  In  the  first  instance,  the  Slovene
Ministry of Interior, in co-operation with UNHCR, is carrying out a special project to identify more precisely the
number of stateless people living in Slovenia.

The Commission and UNHCR continue to monitor this issue closely and have impressed on the Government the
importance of resolving it as soon as possible.

(98/C 310/82)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0436/98

by Mark Killilea (UPE) to the Commission

(16 February 1998)

Subject: Take-up of EU agri-environmental measures

Under the incentives launched by the Commission under Regulation No (EEC) 2078/92 (1), can the Commission
state  what  amount  Ireland  has  drawn  down  under  these  agri-environmental  measures  to  date,  and  what
percentage this is of the total amount made available by the EU? Is it not possible to give a breakdown in terms of
headings,  i.e.  environmentally  friendly  farming,  non-productive  land  management,  training  or  demonstration
projects?

(1)  OJ L 215, 30.7.1992, p. 85.

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(27 February 1998)

Ireland has launched a single programme to implement Council Regulation (EEC) No 2078/92 of 30 June 1992
on agricultural production methods compatible with the requirements of the protection of the environment and
the maintenance of the countryside (1). This is called the rural environment protection scheme (REPS) and is
available  to  all  farmers  throughout  the  country,  who  agree  to  carry  out  environmental  activities  and  observe
certain restrictions on production practices for at least five years. Payments were first made under the REPS
programme  in  1995  and  the  amounts  contributed  by  the  European  agriculture  guidance  and  guarantee  fund
(EAGGF) for the first three years were 19 MECU in 1995, 43 MECU in 1996, and 98 MECU in 1997.