WRITTEN QUESTION P-2428/01 by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. Use of chemical weapons in Turkey and Iraq and the European Union's Common Foreign and Security Policy.
Date: 2001-09-03
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU programme, Iraq, Türkiye, UN Security Council, chemical weapon, common foreign and security policy, development aid, ethnic group

16.5.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 115 E/83

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(25 October 2001)

The questions raised by the Honourable Member are in line with the concerns already set out
1. and 2.
by the European Parliament in its own-initiative report on supplementary health insurance (1), which was
adopted on 15 November 2000. This report provided an analysis of supplementary health insurance
schemes and rightly emphasised that state or statutory health insurance schemes, which are covered by
Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 of the Council of 14 June 1971 on the application of social security
schemes to employed persons and their families moving within the Community (2), provide very broad
healthcare cover in the majority of Member States. The report rightly discussed the role which these
supplementary health insurance schemes might nevertheless play in access to healthcare and raised in
particular the question of the obstacles to free movement of persons and services in another Member State
which can result from the very significant differences between systems.

3. and 4.
The Commission welcomed the parliamentary initiative and has undertaken to draw up an in-
depth report of the situation in order to gain a better understanding of the diversity and intrinsic
complexity of the various schemes. A study of supplementary health insurance schemes within the
Community was therefore begun and is currently under way.

5.
The results of the study are expected in December 2001 and will be published at the beginning of
2002. They will be used as a basis for all other Commission initiatives in this area and will in particular
help to give rise to a debate with all other parties involved.

(1) 2000/2009 (INI) PE 286.239.
(2) OJ L 149, 5.7.1971.

(2002/C 115 E/087)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2428/01

by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(3 September 2001)

Subject: Use of chemical weapons in Turkey and Iraq and the European Union’s Common Foreign and

Security Policy

In reply to Question E-0680/01 (1) the Council indicated that ‘the use of chemical weapons against the
Kurds has not been raised within the Council or Council bodies’. ‘The Council has not therefore expressed
its views on the issue’ (sic). This position is very surprising. The 15 EU Member States are refusing to
develop a clear view on the use of chemical weapons against, on the one hand, the Kurds in Iraq and, on
the other hand, the Kurds in Turkey.

On Friday, 16 February American and British aircraft attacked the region of the capital of Iraq. The British
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Robin Cook, said that the bombing was necessary to maintain the
no-fly zones in the northern and southern zones of Iraq. These zones were needed to protect the Kurdish
people in the north and the Shiites in the south. ‘When Saddam was allowed to fly over the northern zone
he used chemical weapons on the Kurds. He would do it again if he had the opportunity’, Cook said.

Cook’s position on the use of chemical weapons in Iraq is in stark contrast to the attitude of the EU
Member States on the use of chemical weapons in Turkey. For example, the Council has still not expressed
an opinion on the Turkish army’s use of chemical weapons on 11 May 1999. Nevertheless, there is a need
to develop a clear view of the Kurdish question in Iraq and Turkey in the context of the Common Foreign
and Security Policy.

Will the Commission ‘submit proposals to the Council’ in accordance with Article 22 of the TEU so that a
clear view is reached on the ban of chemical weapons in Turkey and Iraq? If not, why does the
Commission refuse to submit a proposal in accordance with Article 22 of the TEU as the question is
extremely important for the Common Foreign and Security Policy?

(1) OJ C 340 E, 4.12.2001, p. 66.

C 115 E/84

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

16.5.2002

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(12 November 2001)

The Commission notes the suggestion that it should exercise its right of initiative under the Common
Foreign and Security Policy so that the Council adopts a position on activities by Turkey and Iraq.

It would point out that the situation in terms of international law is very different for Iraq and Turkey and
it would be impossible to establish an identical position for them. The UN Security Council has expressly
condemned the repression of the civilian population in Iraq and a number of sanctions have been applied
against Iraq under Security Council decisions. Given that no condemnations have been issued or decisions
taken against Turkey, similar action against Turkey, which would be against a member of the Atlantic
Alliance, would not have the same international legitimacy.

The Commission would, however, draw the Honourable Member’s attention to the programme it recently
introduced to support regional development in South-East Turkey. A total of € 45 million has been
allocated for the period 2002-2005. The programme’s main objective is to promote the region’s economic
and social development.

(2002/C 115 E/088)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2434/01

by Esko Seppänen (GUE/NGL) to the Council

(10 September 2001)

Subject: Attitude of the governments to the cloning of human beings

Parliament has declared its opposition to the cloning of human beings by stem cell manipulation.
According to press reports, nationals of Member States are preparing to clone a human being by the
procedure already used to clone, among other species, mice and cows. Do the governments of the Member
States have the means and the will to stop the cloning of human beings on EU territory?

Reply

(17 December 2001)

The Council would inform the Honourable Member that giving opinions on the positions of Member
States’ governments or on the means available to national public authorities are not matters that fall within
its competence.

The Council would however stress that Article 6 of Directive 98/44/EC on the legal protection of
biotechnological inventions stipulates that the granting of patents on processes for cloning human beings
is prohibited.

(2002/C 115 E/089)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2444/01

by Carlos Bautista Ojeda (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(11 September 2001)

Subject: Forest fires

At the end of the summer, year after year, the Union’s southern Member States go through the sad routine
of tallying up, like the number of deaths on the roads, just how many forest fires have occurred and how
many hectares of woodland have been lost.