WRITTEN QUESTION E-0646/00 by Michl Ebner (PPE-DE) to the Council. Belgium's and France's behaviour towards Austria.
Date: 2000-03-13
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Austria, Belgium, France, bilateral relations, extreme right, speech

18.4.2001

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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(Information)

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

WRITTEN QUESTIONS WITH ANSWER

(2001/C 113 E/001)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0645/00

by Michl Ebner (PPE-DE) to the Council

(13 March 2000)

Subject: Statement by the Portuguese Presidency

On 31 January 2000 the Portuguese Presidency published a statement on behalf of 14 EU Member States
(all except Austria), in which it says that (1) no official bilateral contacts at political level with any Austrian
Government involving the FP(cid:214) are to be encouraged or accepted, (2) Austrian candidates for posts in
international organisations are not to be supported, and (3) the Austrian ambassadors to the EU capitals
are to be received only at technical level. Portugal(cid:146)s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister have also given
the Austrian authorities to understand that it will not be (cid:145)business as usual(cid:146) in bilateral relations with any
government involving the FP(cid:214) in the future. In this context I wish to ask:

1.
whether the statement by the Portuguese Presidency of the Council reflects a substantial change of
paradigm in relations among the Member States, which will be characterised in the future not by a spirit of
cooperation among the 15 Member States, but by the opposition of 14 Member States to one;

2.
whether so (cid:145)disproportionate(cid:146) a reaction, a reaction that appears exaggerated, is justified in the case of
a Member State which can without any doubt be described as a liberal-minded country and a stable
democracy in which human rights and fundamental freedoms are guaranteed by its constitution and
protected by an independent judiciary;

3.
whether the Presidency(cid:146)s statement should not be dismissed if only because it was issued without any
prior dialogue with the Federal Austrian Government and is therefore, in fact, highly inconsistent with the
European spirit of dialogue;

whether the statement should not be withdrawn on the grounds that the partners in the coalition

4.
have pledged to uphold the EU(cid:146)s fundamental values without exception.

(2001/C 113 E/002)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0646/00

by Michl Ebner (PPE-DE) to the Council

(13 March 2000)

Subject: Belgium(cid:146)s and France(cid:146)s behaviour towards Austria

Belgium and France are demonstratively distancing themselves from Austria at international level.

Diplomats from Belgium and France boycotted the speech given by the new Austrian Foreign Minister,
Benita Ferrero-Waldner, to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna on

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10 February. Their seats remained empty during the speech. After Mrs Ferrero-Waldner, Chairman-in-
Office of the OSCE, had finished speaking, the diplomats returned to the meeting.

At an informal meeting of EU Ministers in Lisbon on 11 February the Employment Ministers of Belgium
and France left the room as soon as their Austrian colleague took the floor.

Belgium and France are clearly at great pains to introduce a new form of cooperation and a new culture of
political dialogue in European and international relations. They ascribe their strategy of exclusion to their
concern that human and minority rights may be in danger in Austria because of the involvement of the
Freedom Party (FP(cid:214)) in the new centre-right government in Vienna.

The following questions arise in this context:

1. Does the Council intend to accept this form of cooperation from now on, whenever it sees fit?

2. The EU special summit on employment policy in March was to have been prepared at the informal
Council of Employment and Social Ministers. Will important political issues (cid:129) of which the employ-
ment policy is a prime example (cid:129) be pushed aside by France and Belgium in the future as soon as the
opportunity arises for a hitherto very reliable partner to be excluded in a way that attracts publicity?

Joint answer
to Written Questions E-0645/00 and E-0646/00

(20 November 2000)

The measures to which the Honourable Member refers were announced in a statement made by the
Portuguese Prime Minister on behalf of the Governments of 14 Member States. That statement is not
binding on the Council.

The Council has not taken a view on this issue and is not therefore in a position to reply to the questions
raised by the Honourable Member.

(2001/C 113 E/003)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0728/00

by Jonas Sj(cid:246)stedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(17 March 2000)

Subject: Vuotos dam construction project in northern Finland

There is considerable concern in northern Sweden that the Vuotos dam construction project in northern
Finland may damage the environment by greatly increasing emissions of nutrients and heavy metals into
the northern part of the Gulf of Bothnia. It is feared, inter alia, that the methyl mercury load may increase
by 20-30 %. Naturally, the level of mercury in Swedish fish would rise too. It is intended to flood
240 square kilometres of marshland. Various Swedish authorities have protested about the construction
plans.

Has the Commission had occasion to study this project, and have any checks been carried out as to
whether it meets the requirements in the EU(cid:146)s Environmental Impact Assessment Directive?