WRITTEN QUESTION E-2597/01 by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. American administration of the European town of Brcko and how that town might be reintegrated into its administrative environment.
Date: 2001-09-26
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, administrative unit, autonomy, international arbitration

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The type of evidence required to substantiate a violation of the TRIPs Agreement by other WTO

3.
Members varies from case to case.

(2002/C 160 E/025)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2583/01

by Feleknas Uca (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(24 September 2001)

Subject: Police brutality in Turkey on World Peace Day

On 1 September 2001, designated as World Peace Day, the Turkish authorities banned peace rallies
organised by the pro-Kurdish HADEP Party. None the less, thousands of people took to the streets in order
to express their desire for peace. The Turkish police reacted thereto with a massive show of force,
attacking the peaceful demonstrators with wooden batons and tear gas. More than 3000 HADEP members
were arrested in nine cities. Hundreds of people were injured and several thousand arrested. A 19-year-old
man fell to his death while fleeing from the police.

Is the Commission aware of these outrages in Turkey?

What is the Commission’s view of the repressive action taken by the Turkish authorities against the pro-
Kurdish HADEP Party and its members?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(31 October 2001)

Freedom of expression, freedom of association as well as the principle of protection of minorities are part
of the Copenhagen political criteria to be fulfilled by candidate countries. The strengthening of legal and
constitutional guarantees of the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly is a short-term
priority in the Accession Partnership with Turkey. The Commission has been monitoring closely the
situation in the field of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Turkey. A detailed assessment will be
given in its upcoming Regular Report due on 13 November 2001.

With respect to the facts mentioned by the Honourable Member, the Commission can confirm that it has
received information about mistreatments and brutalities by the Turkish police and security forces against
demonstrators. It deplores such behaviour.

Moreover, the Commission considers that the actions to be in sharp contrast with the circular of the
Minister of Interior of 24 July 2001, which explicitly prohibits ‘excessive use of force’ by the security
forces and the police.

(2002/C 160 E/026)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2597/01

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(26 September 2001)

Subject: American administration of the European town of Brcko and how that town might be reintegrated

into its administrative environment

1.
Does the Commission recall that the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords laid down the borders between two
federal states in Bosnia-Herzegovina, with 49 % of the territory being awarded to the Republika Serpska
and 51 % to the Muslim-Croat Federation?

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Can the Commission confirm that Brcko, a town which stands at the northern border with Croatia
2.
and serves as a link between the north-western and the south-eastern parts of the Republika Serpska
constitutes part of the 49 % of territory referred to in Question 1? Are the inhabitants of Brcko still entitled
to vote in parliamentary and presidential elections held in that Republic? What administrative powers does
that Republic still hold over that town?

3.
Can the Commission confirm the comments made in the issue dated 8 September 2001 of
‘Rotterdams Dagblad’, a Dutch newspaper, which refers to Brcko as a ‘city-state’ administered by a ‘sheriff’
and forming an ‘American enclave in the heart of Europe’. Those comments are underpinned by the
existence of a huge US military base, the presence of a large number of military vehicles in the town and a
budget of EUR 47 million C relatively enormous for that country C and an American ‘supervisor’ (Mr
Henry Lee Clark) who may substitute his own decisions for those taken by the elected Municipal Council.

Does the heavy American involvement in and influence on this town of 83 000 inhabitants result

4.
from its strategic location between the major US military bases in Pecs, Hungary, and Tuzla, Bosnia?

How has the Republika Serpska been compensated for the division of

its territory into two
5.
unconnected areas, with other parties being able to interrupt traffic between them, and for the fact that it
no longer has control over the 49 % of the territory expressly allocated to it?

6.
If no compensation has been made in accordance with Question 5, what steps have been taken to
prevent this situation from becoming a source of ethnic conflict for the party which deems itself to have
been treated unequally or unjustly?

7.
Given the unfortunate experiences with cities temporarily constituting a territorial enclave, such as
Trieste after the Second World War and Danzig after the First World War, does not the Commission deem
it conceivable that Brcko will be permanently separated from its administrative environment and remain
under non-European control?

8.
Is the Commission seeking the (re-)integration of Brcko into a possible future Member State of the
European Union? If so, how and within what timescale does it intend to implement the radical changes
required to bring to an end Brcko’s current status as a city-state under American administration?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(13 November 2001)

The Commission wishes to point out that the constitutional status of the Brcko District was settled by the
Final Award of 5 March 1999 and Annex of 18 August 1999. The Final Award was the work of an
International Arbitration Tribunal whose results have been accepted by both Entities. The Commission was
not party to the final award.

1.
Annex 2 of the ‘General Framework Agreement on Peace’ (GFAP C Dayton/Paris Agreement of
1995) identified an ‘Inter-Entity Boundary Line’ (IEBL) between the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
(FBiH and the Republika Srpska (RS). The IEBL was delineated in a map annexed to the Agreement. The
principle behind the delineation was that 49 % of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) territory would be
attributed to RS and 51 % to FBiH.

2.
At Dayton the parties were unable to reach agreement as to who would control the Brcko area.
Failing agreement the GFAP placed the area in temporary RS custody, but the parties did agree to ‘binding
arbitration of the disputed portion … in the Brcko area …’ (GFAP Annex 2, Article V, paragraph 1). Thus,
although Brcko was awarded temporarily to RS, it was clear that this arrangement would be revisited
under final arbitration.

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Residents of the Brcko District who are BiH citizens are entitled to vote in elections for the BiH Presidency
and BiH House of Representatives and in elections of the Entity of their choice.

Neither RS nor FBiH now exercise any legal authority or administrative power within the boundaries of
Brcko District (see below).

3. and 4.
The Commission cannot confirm the comments cited. The Brcko District consists of the town
of Brcko and a surrounding area. The District (Opstina) is thus not just a ‘city’. It is also not a ‘state’. The
Final Award put the District under direct BiH sovereignty, making it subject to the powers of the common
BIH institutions (in supervised co-ordination with the two Entity governments). The Award permanently
suspended all legal authority of both Entities and established a new unitary, multi-ethnic and democratic
District government. The District was to be held by both Entities on a ‘condominium’ basis: the territory of
RS thus encompasses the entire District, as does the territory of FBiH. The territories of the two Entities
overlap throughout the district.

Initial and final awards established international ‘supervision’ in the Brcko District and a Supervisor who
also serves as a Deputy High Representative, overseeing GFAP implementation. The Supervisor, currently
Ambassador Clarke, has ‘authority to promulgate binding regulations and orders’. The final Award decided
that this supervision ‘shall continue until terminated by the Steering Board of the Peace Implementation
Council.’ No such decision has yet been taken. The impartiality of the international supervision is
underwritten by the Office of the High Representative (OHR) which is itself subject to international control
through the Peace Implementation Council and its Steering Board.

The Final Award specifies that the district shall be ‘demilitarised’. However, SFOR continues to implement
the military aspects of GFAP as mandated under the United Nations (UN) Security Council Resolution
1088 of 12 December 1996. The multi-national SFOR presence in the Brcko District is not stronger than
elsewhere.

5.
RS has not been divided into two unconnected areas. The entire Brcko District is part of RS territory
though, because self-governing, RS has no formal powers there. Nothing in the final Award diminishes
RS’s territorial share.
territory added to RS under the condominium
arrangement is greater than that added to FBiH, the RS’s percentage share has increased.) Moreover, the
BiH constitution establishes freedom of movement throughout the state. RS citizens have the right to
move freely through the district.

(Indeed, since the amount of

Initially the Award gave rise to some complaints from RS. However, the Award, which is final and

6.
binding, is now accepted and respected by both entities.

7.
The Commission shares the assessment of the Final Arbitration that all aspects of the Award are
‘consistent with and not disruptive of the constitution of BiH as adopted at Dayton’. The Brcko District has
therefore not been ‘separated from its administrative environment’ nor is it under ‘non-European control’.

8.
The Commission does not believe that ‘radical changes are required to bring an end to Brcko’s
current status’. To make progress within the Stabilisation and Association Process and eventual possible
Union membership, BiH must build patiently, ensuring that it is able to function as a coherent state and
that it has adopted the ‘acquis communautaire’ in a way which will enable it to sustain a Stabilisation and
Association Agreement with the Union. This is a medium to long-term challenge confronting both the
Entities and, as part of them, the Brcko District.