WRITTEN QUESTION E-1172/01 by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Council. Double murder in Tetovo, Macedonia.
Date: 2001-04-24
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: North Macedonia, crime against individuals, political situation, the EU's international role

C 81 E/14

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

4.4.2002

Reply

(20 November 2001)

Since the beginning of March this year and following the visit of President Mugabe to Brussels, the EU has
decided to enter into a constructive, critical and balanced dialogue with Zimbabwe guided by the spirit of
Article 8 of the Cotonou Agreement. The EU started this dialogue with the objective of exchanging
information and fostering mutual understanding on issues which the EU considers to be of fundamental
importance in the relations between the parties and which are, moreover, set out in the text of the
Agreement. At its meeting on 25 June 2001, the Council (General Affairs) noted the lack of substantial
progress in the ongoing political dialogue with the Government of Zimbabwe and expressed its deep
concern over recent developments in Zimbabwe. It stressed that as a first priority the dialogue should yield
rapid and tangible results on the following: an end to political violence, and in particular an end to all
official encouragement or acceptance of such violence, an invitation to the EU to support and observe
coming elections and full access to that end, concrete action to protect the freedom of mass media,
independence of the judiciary and the respect of its decisions and an end of illegal occupation of
properties.

The Council agreed to closely follow developments in these areas, as well as on overall questions regarding
the rule of law, economic policies and the land reform during the next two-month period, and to take
appropriate measures if substantial progress has not been made.

Concerning the question of what steps have been taken to identify overseas assets held by President Mugabe
and his supporters, the Council can inform the Honourable Member that this action has not been
discussed within the Council.

During the present crisis in the country, development cooperation assistance managed by the Commission
has been reoriented to the social sectors. This has incidentally resulted in a substantial drop in the value of
assistance delivered.

Present assistance is delivered under the LomØ Conventions, pending the coming into force of the Cotonou
Agreement. Under LomØ, assistance is delivered through the government.

(2002/C 81 E/017)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1172/01

by Camilo Nogueira RomÆn (Verts/ALE) to the Council

Subject: Double murder in Tetovo, Macedonia

(24 April 2001)

The whole world witnessed the killing of two utterly defenceless men in front of the television cameras by
Macedonian army soldiers.

Is the Council going to stand by and take no action, when such acts of barbarism, which have already
caused thousands of deaths in the Balkans, are taking place all over again in the face of the failure of the
European Union(cid:146)s Member States to take action?

Reply

(21 November 2001)

The Council is seriously concerned about the level of tension and violence (cid:129) which the EU has repeatedly
condemned in the firmest terms (cid:129) in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Incidents like the one
to which the Honourable Member refers are the unfortunate result of acts of provocation from Albanian
extremists aimed at drawing the government of FYROM into the spiral of a full-scale conflict.

To interrupt the spiral of violence, the EU High Representative, Javier Solana, through his strong personal
commitment and numerous visits to the country since the beginning of the crisis, has been instrumental in
getting a political process through interethnic dialogue under way. On 13 May a (cid:145)government of national

4.4.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 81 E/15

unity(cid:146), including main ethnic Albanian political parties, was finally formed, which was warmly welcomed
by the Council as an important step towards closer cooperation between different ethnic communities in
the country.

The signature of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement with FYROM on 9 April has been a powerful
lever in the hands of the EU, and the agreement will remain an important instrument for engaging the
FYROM government.

The EU has clearly stressed the need for the new government to produce quickly concrete and substantial
results, particularly on issues related to the situation of minorities (i.e. new TV channel in the Albanian
language, progress on the Albanian-language South East Europe University in Tetovo, early reconstruction
of buildings damaged by armed clashes etc). The European Union will support FYROM(cid:146)s efforts to this end.
The EU feels that the delivery of early, concrete results is vital in order to keep the political process going,
to isolate extremists and to bring FYROM closer to Europe. The Council emphasises its view that only
through political means can this crisis be resolved and a viable solution found.

The EU message was clearly spelled out by the EU Ministerial Troika, which visited Skopje on 16 May
2001, to all its interlocutors.

(2002/C 81 E/018)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1203/01

by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Council

Subject: Increase in the European Union budget

(24 April 2001)

The second report on economic and social cohesion in the EU points out the wide disparities in
development between the Member States, the regions and the countries which will be joining the EU in the
next few years. In order to reduce these disparities, or to prevent the gap from widening at least, a much
greater amount of funding than that provided by the EU budget will be required. At the same time, the
cost of dealing with the BSE crisis has raised spending on agriculture to its maximum permissible level,
prohibiting any other action and necessitating cutbacks in other areas of agricultural expenditure.

Since it is becoming increasingly clear that the EU(cid:146)s budget is unable to meet the needs of enlargement or
cover current EU policies, will the Council consider increasing the EU(cid:146)s own resources? Have the Member
States raised the question of increasing own resources or revising the financial perspective? How will the
Council satisfy these urgent financial needs?

Reply

(20 November 2001)

The Council wishes to stress that, in accordance with the conclusions on the budget guidelines for 2002
which it adopted on 12 March 2001, it intends fully to apply the Interinstitutional Agreement (IIA) of
6 May 1999 on budgetary discipline and improvement of the budgetary procedure (1), and Community
expenditure in the period 2000-2006 must therefore remain within the limits imposed by the financial
perspective annexed to that agreement. The rate of change in own resources over that period is governed
by the Council Decision (2000/597/EC, Euratom) of 29 September 2000 on the system of the European
Communities(cid:146) own resources (2), which should enter
in agricultural
expenditure is governed by Council Regulation (EC) No 2040/2000 of 26 September 2000 on budgetary
discipline (3).

into force in 2002, and that

The Council would point out that the IIA, which was adopted by the European Parliament, the Council
and the Commission, includes several provisions to deal with unforeseen expenditure in the application of
the Agreement and the financial perspective, whether in connection with the margins under the different
headings, by means of the mobilisation of the various reserves, the flexibility instrument or the margin for
unforeseen expenditure, but that it is for the Commission to make any relevant proposals required. The
Council would also point out that the financial perspective is sufficiently flexible to deal with the European
Union(cid:146)s financing requirements and it does not therefore consider it necessary to revise it.