WRITTEN QUESTION E-1609/01 by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Council. Maltese as an official EU language.
Date: 2001-06-01
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Malta, accession negotiations, accession to the European Union, official language

4.4.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 81 E/41

subjected themselves to effective national control on an equal footing. The Technical Secretariat of the
Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has carried out some 1 000 international
inspections, two-thirds of them on storage and production facilities for chemical weapons and one-third
on the chemical industry.

Since then the effectiveness and independence of the inspections has been undermined as, for example,
provisions subsequently adopted oblige the inspectors to hand over photocopies of their inspection notes
to the inspected party at the end of the inspection. Secondly, the organisation has been plunged into
financial crisis as important Member States have failed to meet their financial obligations. At present, a
considerable number of the inspections required, especially on the chemical industry, are not being carried
out, on financial grounds.

Has the Council addressed the situation regarding the Chemical Weapons Convention and, if so, what
action is it considering to overcome the financial crisis facing the Organisation for the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons?

What is the Council(cid:146)s view of the subsequent changes to the inspection rules, and does it consider them to
be an amendment to the Convention in breach of Article XV thereof which requires a special procedure
and ratification procedures in all States Party to the Convention?

Is the Council prepared to support an international aid programme for the destruction of chemical
weapons in Russia?

Reply

(29 November 2001)

situation in the
The Council shares the Honourable Member(cid:146)s concern at
Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. In the EU statement delivered by the Presidency
at the Sixth Chemical Weapons Conference of States Parties to the Criminal Weapons Convention (The
Hague, 14-18 May 2001), the EU underlined that the situation required (cid:145)resolute measures, both for
solving the acute financial difficulties and for tackling the structural budgetary problems(cid:146) and stressed the
importance of the issue for full and effective implementation of the Convention.

the difficult

financial

As to the detailed procedures for inspections, the (cid:145)Verification annex(cid:146) to the Convention stipulates in Part II
(General rules of verification), that (cid:145)The inspected State Party shall receive copies, at its request, of the
information and data gathered about its facility(ies) by the Technical Secretariat.(cid:146).

On 17 December 1999 the Council adopted a Joint Action establishing a European Union Cooperation
Programme for Non-Proliferation and Disarmament in the Russian Federation. The objective of the
programme is to support the Russian Federation in its efforts towards arms control and disarmament.
Within that framework, installation services and equipment valued at nearly € 6 million will be delivered to
projects relating to the chemical weapons destruction plant in Gorny.

(2002/C 81 E/051)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1609/01

by Jonas Sj(cid:246)stedt (GUE/NGL) to the Council

(1 June 2001)

Subject: Maltese as an official EU language

Will Maltese become an official
preparations are being made for Maltese becoming an official EU language?

language of the EU if Malta joins the European Union and what

C 81 E/42

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

4.4.2002

Reply

(21 November 2001)

It is recalled that according to Article 290 of the EC Treaty, the rules governing the languages of the
institutions of the Community shall be determined by the Council acting unanimously. These rules are laid
down in Regulation No 1 of the Council of 15 April 1958, last amended when new Member States joined
the Community in 1995, which enumerates the official languages of the EU. The question of Maltese as a
future official
language of the Union has not yet been addressed in the framework of the ongoing
accession negotiations with Malta. As for all the candidate countries with which negotiations have been
started, the negotiating chapter (cid:145)Institutions(cid:146) still remains to be opened.

(2002/C 81 E/052)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1624/01

by Michl Ebner (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(12 June 2001)

Subject: Proposal on the promotion of the use of biomass fuels

The Commission has repeatedly announced its intention to encourage greater use of renewable raw
materials. Oilseeds actually constitute an important source of biomass fuels. If production thereof were
stepped up, the benefits would be many and varied: the use of (cid:145)clean energy(cid:146) and the availability of protein-
rich grist as a by-product from the manufacture of biomass diesel fuel from oilseeds, and it would also
have a positive impact on current world oilseed prices which might be used at international level as an
instrument for achieving market balance.

Can the Commission indicate why it has not, to date, adopted a specific proposal on the promotion of the
use of biomass fuels?

Answer given by Ms de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(19 October 2001)

The Commission maintains its intention to promote the use of biofuels in transport.

A communication is being prepared on a medium- and long-term strategy for alternative fuels, together
with two proposals for Directives, one on a minimum level of biofuels in the total in the total volume of
fuels sold on the European market, and the other on the possibility of a tax reduction for biofuels.

According to its work programme for 2001, the communication should be adopted by the Commission by
the end of October 2001.

(2002/C 81 E/053)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1628/01

by Christos Zacharakis (PPE-DE) to the Council

(12 June 2001)

Subject: Condemnation of Turkey by the European Court of Human Rights

In its judgment of 10 May 2001 the European Court of Human Rights condemned Turkey for continuing
large-scale violations of human rights in Cyprus since 1974 and ruled in favour of the application by the
Republic of Cyprus.

As the Turkish Government hastened to announce that it would ignore this judgment of the European
Court of Human Rights, whose jurisdiction it has by the way formally recognised since 1990, and as in the