WRITTEN QUESTION No. 4019/98 by José BARROS MOURA to the Commission. Financing of human rights actions
Date: 1999-01-08
Institutions: BARROS MOURA, European Parliament
Subjects: Central and Eastern European countries, Council of Europe, EU financing, EU programme, European Commission, cooperation policy, democratisation, human rights, interinstitutional agreement, non-governmental organisation













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91998E4019

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 4019/98 by José BARROS MOURA to the Commission. Financing of human rights actions  


Official Journal C 207 , 21/07/1999 P. 0159 





WRITTEN QUESTION E-4019/98by José Barros Moura (PSE) to the Commission(8 January 1999)Subject: Financing of human rights actionsHaving regard to the resolution adopted by the European Parliament on 3 December 1998 concerning the management and financing of human rights and democratisation programmes,given that the Council of Europe - whose role, experience and knowledge in the field of human rights are remarkable - piloted, at the Commission's request, the measures submitted by the NGOs, including measures of annual duration; that the Commission's decisions have affected the arrangements as a whole, without prior consultation of the Council of Europe,would the Commission provide clarification concerning:1. the cooperation between Commission and Council that previously existed in this area and the assessment made of its results;2. the reasons for the unilateral changing of procedures, without taking account of the effectiveness of cooperation with the Council of Europe;3. the measures the Commission will take, in strict conformity with the resolution of Parliament, to restore cooperation with the Council of Europe and harmonious institutional relations that address the reciprocal, but convergent, interests of the EU and the Council of Europe in the promotion and defence of human rights and democracy?Answer given by Mr van den Broek on behalf of the Commission(17 February 1999)The Commission has a long tradition of working with the Council of Europe in the field of human rights and democratisation. Since 1993, the Commission and the Council of Europe have run joint programmes in a number of Central and Eastern European countries focusing on reforming the legal and local government systems and on setting up machinery to safeguard human rights. They have involved Albania, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine and the Russian Federation. Programmes on specific issues such as national minorities and combating organised crime and corruption are open to all of Central and Eastern Europe. The total budget of the ongoing programmes is EUR 13,19 million.An outside evaluation of the joint programmes for bolstering federal structures, introducing machinery to safeguard human rights and reforming the legal system in the Russian Federation and Ukraine is currently under way.The judgment delivered by the Court of Justice on 15 May in case C106/96 led to the freezing of all the budget headings dealing with non-governmental organisations' and international organisations' human rights activities (this included the Council of Europe) until the interinstitutional agreement at the end of July 1998 gave exceptional permission for them to be used. The interruption did not, however, have negative effects on the cooperation under way, nor did it endanger the planning of future activities. In 1998, the Commission approved three new projects drawn up in partnership with the Council of Europe.The European Union-Council of Europe quadripartite meeting held on 7 October 1998 praised the state of cooperation between the two organisations.