WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3471/98 by Daniel VARELA SUANZES- CARPEGNA to the Commission. Regulating fishing activities in the south-west Atlantic
Date: 1998-11-25
Institutions: European Parliament, VARELA SUANZES-CARPEGNA
Subjects: Argentina, exclusive economic zone, fishery management, fishery resources, fishing area, international conflict, international negotiations, law of the sea

C 207/74

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

21.7.1999

(1999/C 207/096)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3471/98

by Daniel Varela Suanzes-Carpegna (PPE) to the Commission

Subject: Regulating fishing activities in the south-west Atlantic

(25 November 1998)

In its answer of 26 January 1998 to Written Question E-3951/97 (1), drafted against the backdrop of the
seizure of the Community vessel Arpón and stemming from the need to clarify the Argentinian EEZ, the
Commission reported that ‘the European Community and Argentina are involved in a joint project to create a
multilateral system of cooperation in managing and protecting the resources of the south-west Atlantic. The
Commission will raise the problem in this context, at the most appropriate time’.

In view of the fact that no significant headway has been made on this matter since then, that consequently the
legal uncertainty in the zone persists, owing to the inadequate demarcation of the Argentinian EEZ, and that
setting up a multilateral international organisation (SAFO) in the zone serves as a guarantee for developing
Community fishing activities in international waters:

1. Will the Commission provide information on the current state of the negotiations?

2. What reasons lie behind the failure to make significant headway in the said negotiations?

3. When does the Commission expect the negotiating period to end, thus enabling the SAFO to be set up?

(1) OJ C 310, 9.10.1998, p. 5.

Answer given by Mrs Bonino on behalf of the Commission

(15 January 1999)

On 19 January 1998 the Council adopted a negotiating mandate for establishment of a framework for
managing fishery resources in certain south-west Atlantic high-seas waters.

Since then the Commission has been maintaining contact with Argentina for the purpose of defining what
framework is in fact best suited to the nature of the region. These talks are progressing normally.

Since the aim is to establish a multilateral framework, a meeting of all interested parties will be called when the
time is right for this.

(1999/C 207/097)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3477/98

by Ursula Stenzel (PPE) to the Commission

(12 November 1998)

Subject: Human rights

Can the Commission indicate the amount of the appropriation still remaining for this year in the budget for
human rights activities (Chapter B7-70)? Can it also give a detailed breakdown of the use to which the
appropriations earmarked in the budget for human rights activities have been put? On what grounds can the
Commission justify the failure to use all the appropriations? What specific measures has it taken, or is it taking,
to ensure that these appropriations are used rapidly and efficiently? Can the Commission give an undertaking
that no appropriations entered in this budget chapter will have to be carried over to the next financial year at
the end of this financial year?

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

(14 January 1999)

The relevant Member of the Commission addressed the plenary session of Parliament on 17 November 1998
on the use of budget headings in Chapter B7-70 for the promotion and protection of human rights. On that
occasion, he reported on the numerous difficulties encountered in the course of the 1998 financial year,
particularly the effects of the Court of Justice ruling of 15 May 1998, and the consultation process on draft