WRITTEN QUESTION E-1944/01 by Raimon Obiols i Germà (PSE) to the Commission. Food aid for the refugee camps in Western Sahara.
Date: 2001-07-03
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: ECHO, UNHCR, Western Sahara, food aid, refugee

18.4.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 93 E/39

(2002/C 93 E/050)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1927/01

by Stavros Xarchakos (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(29 June 2001)

Subject: Community funding in Greece

Greece receives funding from the Union through its participation in Community initiatives, Community
programmes and the Community Support Frameworks (CSF).

Will the Commission say in which Community initiatives, programmes, actions and CSF operational
programmes (from 1989 to the present) its services have detected financial irregularities and defective or
substandard implementation of projects, and in which cases (give specific details and names) it asked for
the Community appropriations disbursed to be returned?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(13 September 2001)

The Commission has effected decommitments and recoveries where financial shortcomings (ineligible
inadequate final declaration of
projects or expenditure,
expenditure) have been detected, in partnership with the Member State, in operational programmes under
the Community support framework and Community Initiatives for the 1989-93 programming period in
Greece. A list of such cases has been sent direct to the Honourable Member and to Parliament’s Secretariat.

failure to comply with original objectives,

Any shortcomings in the 1994-99 programming period will be corrected when the files are closed. This is
expected to be at the end of 2002.

(2002/C 93 E/051)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1944/01

by Raimon Obiols i Germà (PSE) to the Commission

Subject: Food aid for the refugee camps in Western Sahara

(3 July 2001)

According to a press release issued on 8 June 2001, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and those
responsible for running the UN World Food Programme have called on international donors to help
support the refugees (over 155 000 in number) who have been living in extremely difficult conditions in
the Tindouf refugee camps (south-east Algeria) since 1976.

The UN representatives report that contributions have gradually declined over the last few months and that
current stocks are only sufficient to meet the refugees’ most basic needs for a maximum period of two
months. If further contributions are not forthcoming the situation will become critical by September.

Has the Commission responded to the UN’s calls? How can it help to alleviate the current situation? Has it
called upon the Member States to make urgent contributions?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(12 September 2001)

The Commission is aware of the worrying situation of the Sahrawi refugees and through the European
Community Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) has adopted a proactive approach in order to lessen the
effects of the crisis.

C 93 E/40

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.4.2002

Following coordination between ECHO, the World Food Programme and the UNHCR (Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), on 3 May the Commission decided on an emergency allocation
of EUR 3.77 million in order to transport basic foodstuffs and build up three months’ reserve. The first
products funded from this allocation have already arrived in the camps. In order to deal with the difficult
situation, ECHO has also amended one of the contracts which it adopted in 2000 in order to increase the
amount of barley supplied. ECHO is also preparing a comprehensive EUR 11.8 million plan, almost 80 %
of which will be given over to food aid since that is the area with the main shortages. This global plan was
presented to the Committee on Humanitarian Aid on 5 July and was unanimously approved. On 20 July
the Commission consequently took a decision approving the plan and the contracts were sent to the
ECHO partners in the first fortnight of August.

With the 2001 global plan, ECHO’s total aid for Sahrawi refugees in 2000 and 2001 will have reached
almost EUR 30 million, i.e. an increase of almost 50 % compared with the average aid granted in the
period 1995-1999.

Since the Western Sahara is a forgotten crisis and suffers from donor fatigue, the Commission’s budget
cannot > despite all the efforts > make up on its own for the UN agencies’ shortfall.

During its missions and at official meetings ECHO has therefore tried to make the Member States aware of
the situation. ECHO recently presented a paper to the members of the Committee on Humanitarian Aid
meeting in Sweden, describing the Sahara as a forgotten crisis requiring more bilateral contributions.

The matter of the Western Sahara was tackled again in Brussels on 21 June at a high-level meeting
between ECHO and UNHCR representatives. The Member of the Commission with special responsibility
for external relations visited Morocco on 18 June and top-level discussions were held on the conflict.

Since the Sahrawi refugees have for a long time been living in a state of dependence, recurrent nutritional
deficiencies and the lack of a varied diet have caused serious health problems (anaemia, retarded growth
etc.) among the refugees. For that reason ECHO decided that under its global plans most of its aid should
take the form of supplementary foodstuffs (such as milk powder and fish) in addition to the continued
funding of staples such as barley.

(2002/C 93 E/052)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1972/01

by Elizabeth Lynne (ELDR) to the Council

(12 July 2001)

Subject: Kashmir

Given the recent Indian Government offer of talks with Pakistan over the disputed region of Kashmir, what
initiatives will the European Union be taking to ensure that this opportunity is fully realised?

Reply

(10 December 2001)

The Council expressed its position on the Indo-Pakistan dialogue in its declaration of 19 July 2001 on the
occasion of the Indo-Pakistan Summit in Agra (15-16 July 2001). The Council, inter alia, welcomed the
resumption of the dialogue and encouraged both parties to take further steps in the direction of the final
resolution of all their differences in a constructive manner.

The Council also conveys this message in the regular and ad hoc political dialogue meetings which it holds
with both countries.

As far as the Union’s support for a negotiated settlement of the Kashmir issue is concerned, the Council
would like to refer the Honourable MEP to its reply to Brian Crowley’s Oral Question H-0375/2001, given
in the May Plenary session.