WRITTEN QUESTION E-2929/00 by Marco Cappato (TDI) to the Council. Cuban authorities' attempts to keep an Italo-Cuban couple apart and prevent them from emigrating.
Date: 2000-09-20
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Cuba, common position, democratisation, human rights, imprisonment, mixed marriage, the EU's international role

C 113 E/216

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.4.2001

(2001/C 113 E/233)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2927/00

by Olivier Dupuis (TDI) to the Commission

(19 September 2000)

Subject: Taoufik Cha(cid:239)eb(cid:146)s 50th day of hunger strike

Mr Taoufik Cha(cid:239)eb has been sentenced to eight and a half years in prison and has been incarcerated since
28 August 1996 for (cid:145)membership of an unauthorised organisation (En Nahdha) and for the organisation of
secret meetings(cid:146). On 10 July this year, Mr Taoufik Cha(cid:239)eb began a hunger strike asking to be released (cid:145)for
having been sentenced three times for the same offences(cid:146).

After visiting her husband in the civilian prison of Tunis on 18 August, Mrs Cha(cid:239)eb confirmed that he was
suffering from an ulcer and tachycardia and that his physical condition was increasingly critical. According
to the National Committee for Freedom in Tunisia (CNLT), Mr Cha(cid:239)eb (cid:145)can no longer stand and can hardly
talk(cid:146). Furthermore, the Tunis prison authorities continually refuse to allow his lawyer, Radhia Nassraoui, to
meet her client.

Is the Commission aware of the serious decline in Mr Cha(cid:239)eb(cid:146)s state of health? If so, what measures has it
taken to prevent yet another tragedy from taking place in a country which is held up as a model in the
context of the European Union(cid:146)s policy of association? Is the Commission also aware that Mr Cha(cid:239)eb(cid:146)s
membership of the (cid:145)En Nahdha(cid:146) organisation is probably not unrelated to a certain intransigence which
some in Tunis might welcome as a pretext for rekindling the (cid:145)Islamic threat(cid:146) and thereby (cid:145)justifying(cid:146) the
drift towards authoritarianism which is meeting growing opposition both in Tunisia itself and in the
international community?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(5 October 2000)

According to information available to the Commission, Taoufik Cha(cid:239)eb was pardoned on 30 August and
has returned home. He had been on hunger strike since 10 July. Mr Cha(cid:239)eb (36), member of the Islamic
(cid:145)En Nahdha(cid:146) movement, had received two sentences of 2‰ years and had been in prison for six months. In
the past he had already served a 3‰-year sentence.

(2001/C 113 E/234)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2929/00

by Marco Cappato (TDI) to the Council

(20 September 2000)

Subject: Cuban authorities(cid:146) attempts to keep an Italo-Cuban couple apart and prevent them from emigrat-

ing

In 1999, an Italian national, Enrico Orlandini, married a Cuban national, Yaima Prado Gattorno. When the
latter applied to the Cuban authorities for a passport with a view to emigrating with her husband, the
authorities decided to enforce a sentence for (cid:145)association with a foreigner(cid:146), which had previously been
passed but had until then been suspended. Meanwhile, the husband has been refused all contact with his
wife under the threat of a still harsher punishment should he attempt to contact her.

Will the Council intervene in this specific case and, more generally, will it raise the question of abolishing
the offence of (cid:145)association with a foreigner(cid:146) in the context of its relations with the Cuban Government?

Reply

(30 November 2000)

The Council is keeping a careful watch on the human rights situations in Cuba. However, the specific case
referred to by the Honourable Member has not been referred to the Council or discussed by it as such.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 113 E/217

As the Honourable Member will be aware, the European Union has always taken a clear stand on human
rights, whether through public pronouncements or representations to the Cuban authorities. Moreover, the
EU Havana Human Rights Working Group maintains a useful dialogue with dissident groups and all those
with a role in Cuban society.

The EU objective towards Cuba, as stated in the Common Position on Cuba adopted by the Council on
2 December 1996, remains to encourage a process of peaceful transition to pluralist democracy, respect
for human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as sustainable economic recovery and improved living
standards for the Cuban people. Urging the Cuban regime to make Cuban legislation and the enforcement
thereof fully compatible and consonant with accepted international standards also comes within that
objective.

When carrying out its seventh evaluation of the Common Position in June 2000, the Council noted that
although there continued to be mixed signals, there had not been any fundamental change of policy on the
part of the Cuban government either towards the accomplishment of the aims of the Common Position or
in the opposite direction.

The Council felt that despite the fact that the Cuban authorities had cancelled the EU Troika visit to
Havana scheduled for the end of April and withdrawn their application for Cuban accession to the
Cotonou Agreement,
it was essential that the EU should deploy further efforts to engage the Cuban
authorities in a constructive and frank dialogue on a variety of issues of common interest that might
actually produce tangible results, particularly in the political, economic and civil rights spheres.

(2001/C 113 E/235)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2933/00

by Alexander de Roo (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(11 September 2000)

Subject: European energy tax involving 13 or 14 Member States?

At Parliament(cid:146)s hearing of Commissioner-designate Bolkestein, I asked him on behalf of the Environment
Committee whether (cid:129) in view of Spain(cid:146)s veto of the introduction of an energy/CO2 tax throughout the EU
(cid:129) he was prepared to use the enhanced cooperation clause in the Treaty. I said that a simple (cid:145)yes(cid:146) or (cid:145)no(cid:146)
would suffice.

Mr Bolkestein replied that he needed a year to give an answer. The year has now elapsed.

On the eve of the major climate conference in The Hague it is essential for the Commission to take the
initiative in introducing a proper energy/CO2 tax with the 12 to 14 Member States that are in favour. This
will mean less disruption of the internal market, because a number of Member States are currently
taxes. With the exception of Denmark, major
introducing their own modest national energy/CO2
consumers come away unscathed. If the tax were to be introduced EU-wide in 12 to 14 Member States
the major consumers will also make efforts to save energy and to use more renewable sources of energy.

Spain (cid:129) and two other Member States currently behaving obstructively (cid:129) will soon change their mind,
because they, too, will have to satisfy the Kyoto climate obligations; and an energy/CO2 tax is an
indispensable means of doing so.

Is the Commission prepared to take an initiative in proposing a European energy/CO2 tax on the basis of
the enhanced cooperation clause? A simple (cid:145)yes(cid:146) or (cid:145)no(cid:146) will suffice.