WRITTEN QUESTION E-1683/01 by José Ribeiro e Castro (UEN) to the Commission. Lack of security in South Africa: attacks against the Portuguese community.
Date: 2001-06-14
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU aid, Portugal, South Africa, crime, development aid, economic situation, national minority, police, protection of minorities, social situation

C 115 E/8

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

16.5.2002

The Commission has already offered the possibility of opening access to Community plant variety
3.
protection for varieties which currently only enjoy protection in candidate countries. The conditions
should be comparable to those of the derogation provided in Article 116 (1) and (2) of the Regulation on
Community plant variety rights.

(1) OJ L 258, 28.10.1995.

(2002/C 115 E/007)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1683/01

by José Ribeiro e Castro (UEN) to the Commission

(14 June 2001)

Subject: Lack of security in South Africa: attacks against the Portuguese community

The way in which the apartheid regime was brought to an end in South Africa and the entire process of
transition and the creation of democratic institutions in recent years has been widely recognised at
international
level. This is reflected in the prominent position occupied by Nelson Mandela and the
admiration and respect for the example set by him. It is not our intention to question his role.

However, recent years have seen a wave of violent crime which is apparently linked to severe social
problems and has seriously disrupted South African society. Parts of the Portuguese community in South
Africa, which is mainly involved in running small businesses, have been particularly affected.

Another Portuguese citizen running a small business, Noel Bernardo Nunes, who was 65 and had been
living in South Africa for 40 years, was murdered in Cape Town last weekend. This brings the number of
Portuguese residents murdered since the beginning of the year to ten. According to press reports a total of
388 Portuguese citizens have died in this wave of violent crime during the past
the
Johannesburg area being particularly badly hit.

four years,

The justified alarm which these attacks have caused among the Portuguese community led it to take to the
streets some months ago to demand proper protection. However, owing to a series of misunderstandings
on the part of some sections of the South African Government, this initiative regrettably resulted in
controversy. Even though this is clearly a politically sensitive matter, it is essential that effective action be
taken to guarantee the safety and protect the lives of individuals.

These Portuguese citizens are also citizens of the European Union, which is in a good position to intervene
with the South African authorities and indeed to offer them the necessary assistance.

Will the Commission monitor the worsening situation as regards violent crime in South Africa, which has
led to the deaths of so many Portuguese residents and has caused justified alarm? What steps has it taken
and will it take vis-à-vis the South African Government in this connection?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(7 September 2001)

The European Commission follows the situation in South Africa closely, including criminality. It feels that
the high crime rate is a threat to South African citizens and foreigners @ including Union citizens @ in the
country. It also fears the crime situation could affect the country’s reputation abroad, discourage foreign
investment and have a detrimental effect on the economy as a whole.

The Commission has expressed this view vis-à-vis the South African authorities on a number of informal
occasions, either in contacts with visitors from the country or through it’s Delegation in Pretoria.

Although the current Multi-annual indicative programme does not concentrate on crime prevention as a
focal sector, the Commission believes that an improvement in the social and economic situation of the
country will have positive effects on the crime situation. The EU development policy will contribute to
this. In the past, the Commission has funded two programmes for support to the South African police
force, one of which is still ongoing.

16.5.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 115 E/9

A summary description of this ongoing programme is sent directly to the Honourable Member and to
Parliament’s Secretariat.

(2002/C 115 E/008)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1684/01

by Marit Paulsen (ELDR) to the Commission

(14 June 2001)

Subject: Malaria vaccine

In October 1999, I asked the Commission whether it could submit a proposal, as an aspect of aid policy,
under which the Member States would place an order for a malaria vaccine with the pharmaceutical
companies and undertake to pay a certain price for a dose of vaccine.

The Commission subsequently replied that creativity and new partnerships were required to bridge the
enormous gap between human needs, scientific input and market profits, that initial talks were being held
in the Community on such an approach in relation to an AIDS vaccine for the developing countries and
that similar strategies could and should be developed for malaria.
It was also pointed out that the
Community was funding a pilot project for clinical demonstration in Gambia in partnership with a
pharmaceutical company.

According to the Commission, the Community was at that point, in November 1999, still in the initial
stages of developing that approach. 18 months have since passed, culminating in a major debate on AIDS
and the conduct of the pharmaceutical companies in South Africa. Will the Commission, therefore, say
what the results of the talks concerning an AIDS vaccine were, what measures were taken concerning an
AIDS vaccine for the developing countries on the basis of those results, and what the outcome of the pilot
project in Gambia was?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(3 September 2001)

There has been significant progress on malaria vaccine research since the Honourable Member’s Written
Question E-1790/99 (1). With Community support 14 candidate vaccines have been studied. This
represents a major share of the global effort. The Quality of Life and the International Cooperation
programmes of General Directorate Research have considerably increased resources dedicated to malaria
vaccine and malaria drug development. It is expected that at the end of the Fifth Framework Programme
for Research and Technological Development (R & D) of the Community more than € 30 million will be
spent on malaria research alone. In addition major integrated research consortia ‘Clusters’ including major
European vaccine manufacturers have been established. The European Malaria Vaccine Initiative (EMVI) has
capitalised on this Community research strengths. EMVI is a response to an acknowledged bottleneck in
publicly-funded vaccine research, whereby R & D efforts frequently stop at the late pre-clinical stage and do
not move into clinical validation, due to lack of funds and technical know-how.

The Community’s support to the African Malaria Vaccine Testing Network (AMVTN) represents a critical
links long-term and ongoing
opportunity to link the Commission with partners in the South.
investments into malaria vaccine development with capacity building in developing countries. The specific
partnership between EMVI and AMVTN, which was conceived to move promising vaccine candidates
further down the development pipeline, has added a great deal of credibility to the endeavour. The
AMVTN, under the ownership of developing countries, represents a major opportunity over the coming
years to further develop and assess efficacy and field effectiveness of malaria vaccines.

It