WRITTEN QUESTION E-3142/00 by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission. The situation in Somalia.
Date: 2000-10-06
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Somalia, civil war, dictatorship, establishment of peace, international aid, political crisis, public safety

6.6.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 163 E/43

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(16 January 2001)

The Commission understands that in referring to (cid:145)organic plant protection products(cid:146), the Honorable
1.
Member refers to plant protection products other than the (cid:145)conventional(cid:146) chemical products. This would
cover products such as those of plant or animal origin, pheromones or micro-organisms. Council Directive
91/414/EEC of 15 July 1991 on the placing of plant protection products on the market (1), applies to all
such plant protection products. However certain provisions, such as detailed data requirements for
industry, had to be adopted later on by the Commission.

The Commission adopted as a priority detailed requirements for chemical active substances. In principle
the same requirements also apply to extracts of plants or animal products or pheromones. However, the
applicant does not have to submit certain information if he can scientifically justify that the information is
not necessary to demonstrate that
the substance meets the high human health and environmental
requirements of the Directive.

In order to increase transparency for the applicants the Commission is, together with the Member States,
involved in a harmonization at Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) level of
data requirements for pheromones and semiochemicals. An OECD wide harmonisation is crucial to
encourage the development of these substances because it will guarantee almost world wide acceptability
of data sets, thus lowering the cost of development.

Detailed data requirements for micro-organisms are almost finalised and are expected to be adopted by the
Commission in spring 2001.

2.
The Commission is confident that a good balance has been reached between the goal of ensuring
a high level of protection for human health and the environment while not putting unbearable cost on the
shoulders of notifiers for these classes of substances, which would discourage their development.

(1) OJ L 230, 19.8.1991.

(2001/C 163 E/042)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3142/00

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission

(6 October 2000)

Subject: The situation in Somalia

The outcome of the Djibouti Conference,
in which, among others, the autonomous governments of
Somaliland and Puntland did not take part, threatens to further fragment and destabilise Somali political
life. The de facto recognition hoped for by some sectors of the international community as a prelude to
ending the civil war in Somalia may paradoxically have the opposite effect (cid:129) the resumption of fighting at
Mogadishu and the destabilisation of the north of the country, where the autonomous governments have
maintained political and social stability and relative safety all these years. The outcome was determined by
the fact that the vast majority of the delegates to the Djibouti Conference did not have grass-roots support
and did not comply with the conditions specified to the United Nations by the President, namely the
exclusion of the (cid:145)warlords(cid:146), the involvement of civil society and the implementation of the (cid:145)building blocks(cid:146)
programme,
(cid:145)from the bottom up(cid:146), precisely in order to prevent the conference from failing, as had
happened twelve times before. The list of participants at the Conference reads like a catalogue of the
(cid:145)nomenklatura(cid:146) of the dictatorship of the late Siad Barre, with a strong political, strategic and economic
Islamic fundamentalists, who seem to have played a decisive role in the
alliance with international
decisions emerging from the Conference.

In view of all this, is the Commission aware that the first and only head of a sovereign State to recognise
the new President of Somalia immediately and offer substantial funding was the President of Sudan?

C 163 E/44

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

6.6.2001

In view of the threat of renewed armed conflict in Mogadishu and the surrounding district and the
destabilisation of the peaceful autonomous regions of Somaliland and Puntland, what steps will the
Commission take to ensure peace and re-establish a political balance between the various regional entities,
which may be guaranteed by a federal system respecting autonomous entities?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(17 November 2000)

The Commission fully agrees with the declaration of 8 September 2000 by the Presidency on behalf of the
Union on recent developments in Somalia.

This declaration expresses the hope that the election of Mr Abdiqasim Salad Hassan as President of Somalia
by the National Transitional Assembly meeting in Arta and the recent nomination of a new government
will contribute to the restoration of the State, to the preservation of national unity and to the territorial
integrity of the country; the willingness to enter into dialogue with the new Somali authorities and, once
they have established their authority, to support their efforts to rebuild the country, while continuing to
give backing to recovery measures in all areas of Somalia where stable conditions already exist, thereby
taking account of the situation in Somaliland and Puntland; a call on the authorities of Somaliland and
Puntland to establish constructive relations with the institutions which have emerged from the Arta
process while also urging the future transitional government to engage into a constructive dialogue with
these authorities; an invitation to the heads of the armed movements which remain on the margins of the
peace process to associate themselves with that process; and the hope that the new Somali authorities will
establish close relations of friendship and cooperation with all the countries in the region.

The Commission is fully aware that international recognition of the new Somali government will take time
especially considering the failure of many previous efforts to re-establish state structures in Somalia.

However, the Commission thinks that any reasonable initiative in this regard deserves support. The peace
dividend approach to rehabilitation and development, which has been developed under full Community
is designed to ensure that international assistance is not only relevant to local efforts at
participation,
reconstruction but also to peace building and support for civil society.

The Commission encourages the parties involved to find through negotiations, and under the strict
exclusion of violence, a lasting well balanced political system. It supports the decision taken by the Arta
peace conference enshrined in the transitional charter which foresees a federal system providing a
substantial degree of autonomy for the various entities. The Commission has already funded a study on
decentralisation in Somalia which has had a strong influence on the internal discussion regarding the
future constitution.

(2001/C 163 E/043)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3145/00

by Adriana Poli Bortone (UEN) to the Commission

(6 October 2000)

Subject: Reestablishment of a police force in Albania

Given that:

(cid:129) on 16 June the Council decided to extend until 31 December 2000 Joint Action 1999/189/CFSP,
adopted on the basis of Article J.3 of the Treaty on European Union, concerning a contribution by the
EU to the reestablishment of a viable police force in Albania;

(cid:129) during the first stage 3000 Albanian police officers were trained at a cost of € 2,1 million. So far

operations to combat crime in Albania have been non-existent;

(cid:129) in the last few days Albanian boatmen have committed criminal offences (throwing bombs) against
a patrol boat belonging to the Italian Customs Service, which was trying to put a stop to the daily
transport of illegal immigrants to the coast of Apulia, which often has tragic consequences.