WRITTEN QUESTION P-2753/00 by Konstantinos Alyssandrakis (GUE/NGL) to the Council. Advance of Turkish occupying forces in Cyprus.
Date: 2000-09-01
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Cyprus, Türkiye, UN resolution, military occupation, occupied territory, peacekeeping, settlement of disputes

C 113 E/166

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.4.2001

The Commission is always favourably disposed towards environmental aid. This is also the case when
5.
it comes to assessing environmental aid intended to implement the obligations of the Kyoto Protocol on
climate change. However, it does not follow that the aid control rules do not in principle apply to such
measures.

6.
A distortion of competition exists when the measures affect a competitive relationship between firms
or branches of production. According to the Commission(cid:146)s provisional assessment, that would not seem to
be ruled out in this case. The fact that competitors may in turn be recipients of other forms of state aid
cannot mean that Article 87(1) (formerly Article 92(1)) of the EC Treaty is not relevant. Instead, such aid
should in turn be examined to ascertain whether it is compatible with the common market.

(1) See under: http://europa.eu.int/comm/secretariat_general/sgb/state_aids/industrie_1999.htm, N 575/A/99.
(2) OJ C 72, 10.3.1994.

(2001/C 113 E/175)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2753/00

by Konstantinos Alyssandrakis (GUE/NGL) to the Council

(1 September 2000)

Subject: Advance of Turkish occupying forces in Cyprus

On the eve of the opening of direct talks on Cyprus between the two communities in Geneva, the Turkish
occupying army has advanced its positions, taking an area of between 200 and 300 metres in the Strovilia
area of Cyprus, near the British Army base and inside the neutral zone controlled by UN forces. This new
provocation on the part of Turkey and Denktash is likely to undermine the Geneva talks between the two
communities and reveals Turkey(cid:146)s contempt for UN resolutions.

Will the Council condemn this fresh provocation, and what action will it take with a view to ensuring that
the neutral zone is cleared of Turkish troops and fostering the achievement of a just and viable solution to
the Cyprus question on the basis of UN resolutions?

Reply

(20 November 2000)

1.
The first and foremost interest of the Council is that a global, fair and viable solution be found to the
Cyprus question, consistent with the relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council. The
Council considers that the proximity talks under the aegis of the United Nations currently under way are
the best means to reach such a solution.

2.
The Council fully supports the efforts of the United Nations in this regard, and urges all parties
concerned to refrain from any acts which could undermine the talks. The EU is cooperating closely with
the UN and other international players in order to foster the achievement of a just and viable solution.

3.
The issue of the military advance around Strovilia, which negatively affected the atmosphere and
increased tensions in the proximity talks and obstructed the work of Unficyp, which is mainly responsible
for monitoring and maintaining the ceasefire established on 16 April 1974 in order to prevent a
resumption of fighting, should be resolved in the UN framework and not be allowed to disturb the
proximity talks. Restoration of
the status quo ante would enable the proximity talks to continue
unimpeded.