WRITTEN QUESTION P-3403/01 by Thierry Jean-Pierre (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Information on EU external aid.
Date: 2001-12-05
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU aid, EU office or agency, activity report, aid system, third country

4.7.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 160 E/107

(2002/C 160 E/139)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3403/01

by Thierry Jean-Pierre (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(5 December 2001)

Subject: Information on EU external aid

It was emphasised in the annual report on implementation of the Commission’s external aid programmes
in 2000 that reform of the management of EU external aid was under way and would begin to bear fruit
in 2002.

The main objectives of this reform are to reduce the time lapse between commitments and payments and
to decentralise responsibilities from the Commission to the Delegations in the beneficiary countries and
territories.

In addition, the Commission’s EuropeAid Agency has published its first Annual Report, which includes
details of a reform process consisting in the establishment of a single agency with responsibility for
managing the whole operational cycle of the EuropeAid projects and the granting of specific powers to the
active Delegations, with a view to improving the Commission’s overall capacity in managing programmes
on a country-by-country basis.

In order to give greater visibility to the impact of aid on its beneficiaries, I should like to have a complete
list for 1997-2001 of the associations and NGOs involved in EU external aid to the following countries:
the Barcelona Process countries, Libya, Mauritania, Sudan, Nigeria, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Albania, Bosnia-
Herzegovina, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Indonesia.

Supplementary answer
given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(27 March 2002)

In view of the length of its answer, the Commission is sending the information requested for direct to the
Honourable Member and Parliament’s Secretariat.

(2002/C 160 E/140)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3414/01

by Anna Karamanou (PSE) to the Council

(13 December 2001)

Subject: Use of torture and inhumane treatment of terrorist suspects in the USA

The measures used to combat terrorism in the USA have already resulted in many cases in the violation of
the fundamental rights of detainees. A number of reports by human rights organisations have noted that
people arrested on suspicion of engaging in terrorist acts did not have access to a lawyer and were also
deprived of the right to communicate with relatives. In some cases, moreover, according to the Secretary-
General of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, suspects are being tortured on the
pretext of non-cooperation with the investigative authorities.

What is the position of the European Union on the violation of the principles of international law on
human rights, and the International Convention against Torture, which the USA has ratified and which
prohibits the use of torture or inhumane treatment to extract confessions from detainees, and how will the
Council respond to the risk of a similar state of affairs arising in the Member States of the EU?

Reply

(25/26 March 2002)

As the Honourable Member is aware, all EU Member States firmly support the action to prevent and
eradicate all forms of torture and other inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment within the EU