WRITTEN QUESTION P-1579/01 by Adeline Hazan (PSE) to the Council. Right to family reunification.
Date: 2001-05-28
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU Member State, family migration, foreign national, proposal (EU)

4.4.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 81 E/37

Given the major importance of combating drug trafficking and preventing this major scourge from
afflicting the European Community:

1. What specific programmes of aid for Lebanon are currently being organised by the Commission?

2. Has the Commission provided funding for programmes to combat the cultivation of cannabis and

opium and strengthen Lebanon(cid:146)s agricultural economy and if so what are these programmes?

3. Can the Commission provide any information concerning MEDA funding for programmes in

Lebanon?

4. Have specific initiatives been taken to ensure cooperation with the Lebanese authorities in combating

the illicit cultivation activities and networks trafficking in illegal drugs?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(19 July 2001)

There are no Community aid programmes at present under consideration in support of combating

1.
drug cultivation and trafficking.

2.
In 1994 a grant of € 600 000 was provided to the Government of Lebanon for training, technical
assistance and equipment for controlling drug trafficking. In the same year an agreement was signed with
the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) to provide a grant of € 1 400 000
which focussed on crop replacement in the Bekaa Valley.

A grant of € 164 032 was approved in 1996 to the (cid:145)Groupe International de Recherche en Toxicomanie(cid:146)
and (cid:145)FØdØration Internationale des UniversitØs Catholiques(cid:146)
for training of trainers in drug addiction
problems.

The non-governmental organisation (NGO) (cid:145)SOS Drug International(cid:146) received a grant of € 139 870 in 1998
to establish a reception centre and for assisting with the re-integration of drug addicts in Lebanon.

3.
Over the period 1995-1999 (MEDA I) Lebanon was allocated € 145 million in grants to support
administrative, social and economic reforms, and an additional € 21 million interest subsidy on an
environmental sector loan from the European Investment Bank. The five principal areas supported by
Community funding are rehabilitation of the public administration,
investment planning programme,
industrial modernisation, structural adjustment facility, and the establishment of a fund for social and
economic development.

Support under MEDA II (2000 onwards) will focus on economic and fiscal reforms, implementation of the
Association Agreement (expected to be concluded by end 2001), trade enhancement.

The two projects funded in 1994 entailed close co-operation with the interior ministry and other

4.
authorities in Lebanon involved with illicit drug cultivation and trafficking.

(2002/C 81 E/046)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1579/01

by Adeline Hazan (PSE) to the Council

(28 May 2001)

Subject: Right to family reunification

The next meeting of the JHA Council on 28 and 29 May 2001 will discuss the proposal for a Council
directive on the right to family reunification.

This measure is essential for ensuring normal family life, a requirement set out in Article 8 of the European
Convention on Human Rights, which stipulates that (cid:145)Everyone has the right to respect for his ((cid:133)) family
life(cid:146).

C 81 E/38

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

4.4.2002

At present, however, there are grounds for concern for the future of this proposal, since certain states want
to move backwards and make substantial changes to the text, even though it is the first firm and
courageous step that has been taken towards bringing the third pillar within the Community sphere. They
are seeking:

(cid:129) to extend to more than one year the waiting period required before third country nationals are

authorised to apply for family reunification;

(cid:129) to impose strict limits on the number of family members eligible for reunification, excluding those in

the ascending line, married couples and grown-up dependent children;

(cid:129) not to grant family members the right to work immediately on arrival in the host Member State;

(cid:129) to allow Member States to withdraw residence permits from members of reunified families if, in the

two years following their arrival, the conditions laid down are no longer being fulfilled.

The proposal for a directive, as amended by the European Parliament, is an important measure which must
secure firm and definitive backing from the Council. Will the Council clearly spell out its views on this
matter? Will it take steps to banish ideologies based on a selective and anachronistic view of European
citizenship?

Reply

(21 November 2001)

On 21 January 2000 the Commission submitted a proposal for a Council Directive on the right to family
reunification. Following the Opinion delivered by the European Parliament on 6 September 2000, the
Commission submitted an amended proposal on 11 October 2000.

The amended proposal has been examined in detail during several readings of the text. Since it has not yet
been possible to reach agreement on a number of fundamental questions, concerning inter alia who should
be eligible for family reunification and the various time limits to be respected, discussions on the proposal
are continuing in the competent bodies of the Council.

(2002/C 81 E/047)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1580/01

by Cecilia Malmstr(cid:246)m (ELDR) to the Council

(28 May 2001)

Subject: NØjib Hosni, prisoner of conscience in Tunisia

NØjib Hosni, who has received numerous international prizes for his committed work in defence of human
rights and is a founder member of the Conseil national des libertØs en Tunisie (CNLT), National Council for
Liberties in Tunisia, was imprisoned in June 1994 on a trumped-up charge of forgery. After being
sentenced, without evidence, to eight years in prison in an unfair trial in 1996, he was conditionally
released at the end of the same year after an international campaign of solidarity.

Mr Hosni was re-arrested in December 2000 and sentenced to 15 days in prison for (cid:145)non-compliance(cid:146) with
a judicial decision which banned him from practising his profession as a lawyer for five years. This ban
was arbitrary since it was in breach of current texts regulating the legal profession. NØjib Hosni is now
being forced to complete the remaining five and a half years of the eight-year sentence imposed in the
1996 trial.

Furthermore, the attacks and intimidation from the government, to which Mr Hosni and human rights
defenders are subjected, have reached an unprecedented level. The imprisonment of Mr Hosni, the
suspension of the activities of the Ligue tunisienne des droits de l(cid:146)homme (LTDH), Tunisian Human Rights
League, the increase in judicial proceedings against the leaders of the LTDH and the CNLT, as well as
physical attacks on the leaders and activists of these and other civil associations, are only a few examples
of the deterioration in the human rights situation in Tunisia.