WRITTEN QUESTION E-3199/00 by Mario Mauro (PPE-DE) to the Council. International body's discrimination of a sports company which has actively fought doping.
Date: 2000-10-16
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Italy, performance drugs, sport, two-wheeled vehicle

6.6.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 163 E/59

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(13 November 2000)

The Community is supporting the Colombian government with a substantial multiannual programme. The
Commission plans to focus on social and economic development and combating poverty, alternative
development, support for the reform of the judiciary sector, support and promotion of human rights,
assistance to displaced people, and protection of the environment and tropical forests.

this is partly carried out through non-
As to the implementation of the Community programmes,
governmental organisations (NGOs), especially in the field of displaced people, community development
and environment. Among the European NGOs which carry out projects in Colombia are Oxfam, Caritas,
MØdØcins sans FrontiŁres, Comitato Internazionale per lo Sviluppo dei Popoli (Italie) (CISP), Movimento
Sviluppo e Pace (Italie) (MSP), Miserior, Katholische Zentralstelle Fur Entwicklungshilfe (Allemagne) (KZE),
Agriculteurs Fran(cid:231)ais et DØveloppement
Jugend Dritte Welt, Fonds de
(France)
CoopØration au DØveloppement-SolidaritØ Socialiste (Belgique)
(FCD), Intermon, Broederlijk Delen, and
the Greek Committee for International Democratic Solidarity (Grece) (EEDDA).

International

(AFDI),

Concerning the Honourable Member(cid:146)s question on the return of displaced people to their territories of
origin, the situation in Colombia at the moment is far from being stable and the number of displaced
people is expected to increase even further in the near future. Moreover, the Commission intends to
support people willing to return only if the necessary conditions concerning their personal security and the
respect for human rights are guaranteed. On an international level, the Community is the principal donor
of aid to over 1 million displaced people in Colombia (€ 24 million since 1997).

The Commission also supports the peace communities mentioned by the Honourable Member through
specific actions carried out by NGOs to meet their needs for humanitarian aid, and through active
participation in the (cid:145)Mesa por la paz en UrabÆ(cid:146) (a platform for peace consisting of different national and
international entities)
in order to observe the human rights situation in the area, where the peace
communities are situated (UrabÆ).

As to the Honourable Member(cid:146)s question on specific projects working with communities who risk being
displaced, the Commission finances the project (cid:145)Cien municipios por la paz(cid:146) (100 municipalities for peace)
with the Colombian (cid:145)Redepaz(cid:146) movement. This project of € 850 000 seeks to encourage 100 municipalities
all over Colombia to co-operate actively in favour of peace.

(2001/C 163 E/058)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3199/00

by Mario Mauro (PPE-DE) to the Council

(16 October 2000)

Subject: International body(cid:146)s discrimination of a sports company which has actively fought doping

For 15 years the company A & V Sport Ltd and the sports group Amore & Vita Giubileo Beretta have
successfully participated in international sport and championed the health-related aspects of sport.

The Amore & Vita professional cycling team, part of the Fanini group, has the longest history in the
international arena; it has had great worldwide success, winning, amongst others, 11 world championships,
28 Italian championships and 11 stages of the (cid:145)Giro d(cid:146)Italia(cid:146); it has introduced 3 700 athletes to cycling and
has discovered and launched numerous champions, such as Cipollini, Bartoli, Tafi, Sorensen and others.

The team(cid:146)s manager, Ivano Fanini has, in recent years and in less suspicious times, actively fought against
doping with the aim of cleaning up cycling, which is now the focus of huge controversy with cyclists from
all over the world involved in cases of doping.

Despite the fact that A & V Sport Ltd met all the requirements of the International Cycling Union (ICU) for
its 2000 membership, the latter organisation, and namely its president, Hein Verbruggen, first of all
unreasonably delayed and then rejected the team(cid:146)s application for the year 2000.

C 163 E/60

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

6.6.2001

to register as
The International Cycling Union has for no reason refused Amore & Vita the right
a professional world-class team. A legal dispute with the ICU on the matter has been pending for months.
The team has therefore been unable to participate in international events such as the Giro d(cid:146)Italia, in which
it had previously taken part for 15 consecutive years, and it has now been prevented from taking part in
the Giro di Lucca, a multi-stage cycling race held on the sports group(cid:146)s home ground and where the team
therefore has the greatest number of sponsors and fans.

Can the Council say what immediate measures it intends to take vis-(cid:224)-vis the International Cycling Union
to enable the aforementioned company and sports group to register in the appropriate manner, thereby
defending the sporting spirit and young cyclists, rather than the bureaucratic face of the ICU?

Does the Council not consider that the International Cycling Union(cid:146)s failure to register Amore & Vita and
to provide due justification for such action would seem to indicate retaliation on the part of the ICU for
Ivano Fanini(cid:146)s condemnations of doping in cycling and his anti-doping campaigns?

Does the Council not also consider that this situation has greatly damaged the families of the thirty racing
cyclists from Italy and other EU countries, not to mention the sports company which manages the team
and which, unable to participate in the main races, is losing its key sponsors and the chance to allow its
sports group to continue competing in future years?

Reply

(26 February 2001)

The case to which the Honourable Member refers does not
competence.

fall within the sphere of Community

The Council is nevertheless aware of the importance of the continuous struggle against doping in sport. In
that regard it would refer to the Resolution of the Council and of the representatives of the Governments
of the Member States, meeting within the Council, adopted in 1992 (92/C44/01), which approves a code
of conduct against doping in sport and calls on, among others, athletes, those forming the entourage of
sportsmen and women (managers, trainers, coaches, etc.), national and international sports organisations
and the media to apply the code of conduct in their sports activities.

The Council would also remind the Honourable Member that the European Council which met in Nice on
7, 8 and 9 December 2000 welcomed the Council conclusions concerning the World Anti-Doping Agency
and agreed to intensify European cooperation in this area.

(2001/C 163 E/059)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3207/00

by Marie-Arlette Carlotti (PSE)
and Francisca Sauquillo PØrez del Arco (PSE) to the Commission

Subject: European Union aid to Cuba

(17 October 2000)

The Commission(cid:146)s decision to discontinue ECHO aid to Cuba means in practice that the country will suffer
a reduction in aid of € 17 to 6 million in the year 2000.

In addition, the new policy of approval for development projects for Cuba (using the (cid:145)Call for proposal(cid:146)
formula) presented by the Commission could limit the field of cooperation considerably by restricting it to
human rights and support for economic and legal reforms.

How does the Commission explain this hardening in its interpretation of
of December 1996 and the decision to limit the extent of its aid to Cuba?

the common position