WRITTEN QUESTION E-0422/01 by Juan Naranjo Escobar (PPE-DE) to the Council. European interests in the Mediterranean.
Date: 2001-02-20
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Union for the Mediterranean, association agreement (EU), cooperation policy

4.12.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 340 E/25

(2001/C 340 E/031)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0420/01

by Heidi Hautala (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(16 February 2001)

Subject: Testing for cervical cancer

Each year, thousands of European women die from cervical cancer because of the inadequacies of the
current testing system. Recent studies by the German Universities of Hanover and T(cid:252)bingen reveal that
more than half of all pap smears are inaccurate.

What measures, if any, does the Commission intend to take to improve the detection rate for cervical
cancer? Will it encourage Member States to introduce systematic testing?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(11 June 2001)

Under the (cid:145)Europe against Cancer(cid:146) programme, a European network for screening for cervical cancer has
been set up, which develops a consensus on the best practice for secondary prevention of cervical cancer
by screening. To this end a consensus conference on screening for cancer including cervical, breast,
prostate and other cancers was held in November 1999 in Vienna. The (cid:145)Advisory Committee on Cancer
Prevention(cid:146), which advises the Commission on all issues related to the prevention of cancer, delivered a set
of recommendations on cancer prevention by screening. The Commission plans to propose Council
Recommendations on Screening for Cancer, based on these recommendations.

(2001/C 340 E/032)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0422/01

by Juan Naranjo Escobar (PPE-DE) to the Council

(20 February 2001)

Subject: European interests in the Mediterranean

Despite the lack of multilateral cooperation in the western Mediterranean over the last nine years due, inter
alia, to the violence in Algeria and the international embargo of Libya, two events of fundamental
importance for the area have occurred during this period: the launch of the Middle East peace negotiations
in 1991 and the establishment of the Barcelona Process in 1995.

The positive approach adopted by Libya, which has participated in the cooperation group of Interior
Ministers of western Mediterranean countries since 1999 and is an observer to the Barcelona Process,
Mauritania(cid:146)s withdrawal
(ECOWAS) on
31 December 2000 and the resumption, on 25 January in Lisbon, of the work of the (cid:145)5+5(cid:146) Group for
Euromediterranean cooperation (cid:129) composed of the Foreign Affairs Ministers of the five countries of the
Arab Maghreb Union and the European Latin Rim countries (Spain, Italy, France and Portugal), plus
Malta (cid:129) are clear signs of a gradual rapprochement that must prevail in the Mediterranean.

from the Economic Community of West African States

What is the Council(cid:146)s political assessment of these recent events? What are the Council(cid:146)s priorities for
promoting European interests in this part of the Mediterranean? What steps does it intend to take to
further this process of rapprochement?

Reply

(10 July 2001)

In recent months the EU has worked actively, both at multilateral and regional level and bilaterally, to
promote the stability and development of the Mediterranean region and the EU(cid:146)s interests in the area.

C 340 E/26

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

4.12.2001

In its multilateral and regional components, the principles of action and coherence of the European
Union(cid:146)s policy on the Mediterranean region have been defined and reaffirmed at two levels: by the 15
Member States, in the Common Strategy drawn up by the Council and adopted on 20 June 2000 by the
European Council in Feira; and by the Fifteen joined by the candidate countries, at the Euro-Mediterranean
Ministerial Conference in Marseille on 15 and 16 November 2000, which gave rise to the formal
conclusions of the Presidency.

The Common Strategy on the Mediterranean Region defines and promotes the Union(cid:146)s objectives and
interests in the region.

Its three main goals are as follows:

(cid:129) to develop the Partnership established by the 1995 Barcelona Declaration and its subsequent acquis;

(cid:129) to express the EU(cid:146)s determination to pursue a coherent overall policy towards the region;

(cid:129) to manifest the EU(cid:146)s support for the consolidation of peace in the Middle East.

These objectives are closely reflected in the priorities put forward by the respective Presidencies for
implementing the Strategy in the second half of 2000 and the first half of 2001.

The fourth Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference in Marseille bore witness to the desire of the
participants to reinvigorate the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership despite the situation in the Middle East.

While making a qualified assessment of the implementation of the Partnership, all the participants
emphasised the vital role of the institutional framework of the Barcelona Process and the need for the
balanced progression of
(political and security; economic and
commercial; social, cultural and human). The Presidency announced the adoption by the Council on
26 November 2000 of the MEDA II Regulation: the new rules governing the Partnership(cid:146)s main financial
instrument, to which a budget of € 5 350 billion was allocated, are aimed at simplifying and accelerating
implementation by speeding up procedures, and at making it more efficient by improving planning
capacity.

three complementary chapters

its

The EU has also taken bilateral measures. With respect to the specific points raised by the Honourable
Member, the Association Agreement with Egypt was initialled on 26 January and the negotiations to
conclude Association Agreements with Algeria, Lebanon and Syria are being pursued actively with a view
to completing negotiations this year. Although Mauritania, which was also mentioned by the Honourable
Member, is an ACP country, it is regularly informed by the Presidency of the Council of initiatives taken
and progress made in the framework of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. With respect to the EU(cid:146)s
policy towards Libya, the Council refers the Honourable Member to point 6 of the Common Strategy: (cid:145)It
covers all the EU(cid:146)s relations with all its partners in the Barcelona process, and with Libya(cid:146). While Libya has
it has
to date given no undertaking that it will adhere fully to the acquis of the Barcelona Process,
participated in the past two ministerial conferences (Stuttgart and Marseille) as the Presidency(cid:146)s (cid:145)special
guest(cid:146).

The Council
particularly during the parliamentary forum it organised in February 2001.

is also aware of the constructive role played in this area by the European Parliament,

Libya was also invited to the Ministerial Conference on the Western Mediterranean Cooperation Process,
known as the (cid:145)5+5(cid:146) Process, in Lisbon on 25/26 January, to which the Honourable Member also refers.
This non-Community forum has a useful role to play in complementing the Council(cid:146)s coherent overall
policy towards the Mediterranean region.