WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3628/98 by Hartmut NASSAUER to the Commission. Benes Decrees
Date: 1998-12-03
Institutions: European Parliament, NASSAUER
Subjects: Czechoslovakia, Germany, accession to the European Union, expropriation, fundamental rights, human rights

C 207/94

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

21.7.1999

The Netherlands authorities have been co-operating closely with the Commission in order to establish a
4.
more accurate historical record of the fleet. Numerous missions to the Netherlands have been completed, at
which all the historical data were made available for analysis. Proposals for the modification of the programme
for the Netherlands have been prepared and are currently the subject of bilateral discussions. A modified
programme will be adopted early in 1999 after the management committee for fisheries and aquaculture has
given its opinion.

5.
According to the report to the Council and the Parliament on the results of the MAGP covering the
period until the end of 1997, to be published in the very near future, only two Member States, France and the
Netherlands, had not fulfilled the MAGP III objectives by that date. France has since achieved those objectives
and, as mentioned above, discussions are continuing with the Netherlands on the proposed modifications to its
programme. The Commission will examine the legal implications of the modifications before deciding what
further action should be taken.

(1999/C 207/126)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3626/98

by Hartmut Nassauer (PPE) to the Commission

(3 December 1998)

Subject: Unresolved problems relating to property between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Czech

Republic

It is a well-known fact that the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany has always condemned as
contrary to international law the expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia and the confiscation of German
property without any compensation. The German Government has always vigorously maintained this
viewpoint. The German Government has made it clear to the Czechs right up to the present that the property
issues have still not been resolved. The Federal German Chancellor pointed this out most recently following the
signing on 21 January 1997 by the Czech Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany of the declaration on
bilateral relations and the future development of such relations.

How does the Commission view these still unresolved property issues, having regard to the accession
negotiations between the European Union and the Czech Republic?

Does the Commission take the view that these still unresolved issues might have repercussions on the
forthcoming accession negotiations?

Has the Commission taken formal note of these issues in its preparations for the forthcoming accession
negotiations, or does it intend to do so in the future?

Does the Commission believe that the continued existence of unresolved problems relating to property
between Member States of the European Union might jeopardise the Community legal order?

(1999/C 207/127)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3628/98

by Hartmut Nassauer (PPE) to the Commission

(3 December 1998)

Subject: Benes Decrees

The Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic ruled on 8 March 1995 in the Dreithaler Case that depriving
the German population of their rights and deporting them on the basis of the ‘Beneš Decrees’ was compatible
with the legal principles of civilised European societies. As a result of that decision, the Law of 8 May 1946 on
the legality of acts committed in connection with the struggle by the Czechs and Slovaks to regain their
freedom is still in force, so that the perpetrators of these arbitrary measures, whose effects continue to be felt,
are still covered today by the immunity from criminal proceedings conferred by that law.

Having regard to the forthcoming accession negotiations, how does the Commission view the fact that in the
Czech Republic discriminatory legalisation is in force against another Member State or some of its citizens?

Does the Commission share the view that the continuing validity of this legislation is incompatible with the
European legal order?

Does the Commission believe that the Czech Republic can accede to the European Union whilst this legislation
continues to be unrestrictedly valid?