WRITTEN QUESTION E-0299/00 by Hartmut Nassauer (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Protection of minorities in the Czech Republic.
Date: 2000-02-11
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Czechia, Germany, accession negotiations, ethnic group, expropriation

26.1.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 26 E/29

owners, which still affects people today and is upheld by the laws of the Czech Republic. Indeed, the
Czech Republic continues to argue that the law of 8 May 1946 declaring an amnesty for excesses
committed at the time of the expulsion remains in force.

Does the Commission share the view that to maintain laws and decrees dating back to 1945 and 1946,
which led to the expulsion of over three million European citizens and deprived them of their citizenship,
is not an appropriate way to help create an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe?

(2001/C 26 E/037)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0297/00

by Hartmut Nassauer (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(11 February 2000)

Subject: Situation of minorities in the Czech Republic

In Commission reports on the Czech Republic(cid:146)s progress on the way to accession (1998 and 1999), it is
stated that the situation of minorities (cid:129) with the exception of the plight of the Roma people (cid:129) is
satisfactory.

Is the Commission aware that the expropriation and deportation of ethnic German population groups in
the aftermath of World War Two represents a continuing violation of compelling standards of interna-
tional law that fundamentally infringes the rights of members of the ethnic German community living in
the Czech Republic today?

(2001/C 26 E/038)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0298/00

by Hartmut Nassauer (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(11 February 2000)

Subject: Acquisition of land in the Czech Republic

What information does the Commission have about the possibility that, after the accession of the Czech
Republic to the European Union, the Czech Finance Ministry may be seeking to prevent citizens of other
EU Member States from acquiring real estate in the Czech Republic, and what measures is the Commission
considering, bearing in mind that it has always been stressed that when the Czech Republic accedes to the
EU it will be required to accept the (cid:145)acquis(cid:146)?

(2001/C 26 E/039)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0299/00

by Hartmut Nassauer (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(11 February 2000)

Subject: Protection of minorities in the Czech Republic

At the Copenhagen European Council
in 1993, the European Union adopted criteria for accession
negotiations with the Central and Eastern European countries. In addition to democracy and the rule of
law, these included respect for human rights and respect for and protection of minorities.

Bearing this in mind, what is the Commission(cid:146)s view of the legal status of ethnic Germans currently living
in the Czech Republic, whose continuing expropriation pursuant to the Benes Decrees (1945 and 1946)
violates the requirement to protect minorities and the prohibition of discrimination?

C 26 E/30

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

26.1.2001

(2001/C 26 E/040)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0300/00

by Hartmut Nassauer (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(11 February 2000)

Subject: Unsettled property claims between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Czech Republic

As is well known, the Federal Republic of Germany(cid:146)s government has invariably condemned the expulsion
of the Germans from Czechoslovakia and the uncompensated confiscation of German property as an
infringement of international law. The German Government has always emphatically upheld this position.

The political significance of these unsettled property claims for the Community(cid:146)s legal system cannot be
resolved by referring to Article 295 of the EC Treaty.

How does the Commission view these still unsettled property claims in connection with the accession
negotiations with the Czech Republic, and is it prepared to help rectify this injustice?

(2001/C 26 E/041)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0301/00

by Hartmut Nassauer (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(11 February 2000)

Subject: Promotion of European legal culture in the Czech Republic

On 8 March 1995 the Czech Republic(cid:146)s constitutional court ruled in the Dreithaler Case that the
deprivation of the rights of the German population and their deportation under the so-called Benesch
decrees were in accordance with the legal principles of Europe(cid:146)s civilised societies. Accordingly the Law of
8 May 1946, for instance, on the legality of activities connected with the fight for the liberation of Czechs
and Slovaks, remains on the statute book. This law is an amnesty for criminal offenders and provides these
arbitrary measures, which continue to have effect, with a legal basis that is still applicable today.

Is the Commission aware of this judgment, and in view of the forthcoming accession negotiations how
does it view the fact that discriminatory laws, directed against other Member States or some of their
citizens, are in force in the Czech Republic?

Does the Commission agree that the abolition of such decrees and laws would be a welcome contribution
to the common European legal system?

(2001/C 26 E/042)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0302/00

by Hartmut Nassauer (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(11 February 2000)

Subject: European Parliament resolution of 15 April 1999 on the report from the Commission on the

Czech Republic(cid:146)s progress towards accession (1998)

In its resolution on the regular report (1998) from the Commission on the Czech Republic(cid:146)s progress
towards accession (A4-0157/1999) (1) of 15 April 1999 Parliament called on the Czech Government to
repeal the surviving laws and decrees from 1945 and 1946 insofar as they concerned the expulsion of
individual ethnic groups in the former Czechoslovakia.

In its 1999 progress report the Commission states that it took this resolution into account when drawing
up that report. Can the Commission state whether, following this resolution, it has conducted talks with
the Government of the Czech Republic on these laws and decrees, and how it intends to take this request
by the European Parliament into account in the course of the accession negotiations?

(1) OJ C 219, 30.7.1999, p. 443.