WRITTEN QUESTION P-3390/01 by Gerard Collins (UEN) to the Commission. Outcome of the Commission visit to India and Bangladesh in November 2001.
Date: 2001-12-06
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Bangladesh, EU relations, European Commission, India, cooperation policy, cultural relations, official visit, trade relations

18.7.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 172 E/49

and on the holding, movement and monitoring of such products properly when they establish whether
private individuals entering the United Kingdom with excised goods purchased in other Member States are
holding these goods for commercial purposes (in which case excise duties on the goods are due in the
United Kingdom). The Commission is also concerned that the sanctions applied by the United Kingdom
when individuals are deemed to be holding excised goods for commercial purposes in breach of national
excise duty law may be contrary to the principle of proportionality, a general principle of Community law.

The Commission received a response to its letter of formal notice on 18 December 2001, which will be
analyzed as quickly as possible. In the light of this analysis, the Commission will determine whether or not
in its view, the United Kingdom is acting in conformity with Community law, and will decide whether it is
appropriate to proceed to the second stage of the infringement procedure, which is a formal request for
the United Kingdom to change its practices, in the form of a reasoned opinion. The Commission can refer
a Member State to the Court of Justice for failure to apply Community law properly.

(2002/C 172 E/053)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3390/01

by Gerard Collins (UEN) to the Commission

(6 December 2001)

Subject: Outcome of the Commission visit to India and Bangladesh in November 2001

Will the Commission make a statement on the outcome of its recent visit to India and Bangladesh
(20-24 November 2001), and will it outline, in particular, the future strategy that it believes should be
pursued by the EU with regard to further developing trade and educational and cultural links?

Answer given by Mr Lamy on behalf of the Commission

(11 January 2002)

The Commission will be pleased to report and to exchange views with the Parliament on Commissioner
Lamy’s recent visits to both Bangladesh and India (20-24 November 2001) concurrently with President
Prodi’s visit to India in the context of the EU-India Summit (22-23 November 2001), if the Parliament so
wishes.

Commissioner Lamy visited Dhaka on 20 and 21 November 2001 in order to attend a seminar organised
by the Government of Bangladesh on the ‘Everything but Arms (EBA)’ initiative which allows duty-free and
quota-free access to the EU market for all products originating in the 49 poorest countries including
Bangladesh. The visit coincided with the First
Joint Commission Meeting under the EC-Bangladesh
Partnership and Co-operation Agreement. It was complemented by a wide range of governmental and
industry contacts. The focus of the visit was on the need for a diversification of Bangladesh’s exports in
order to allow the country to fully use the possibilities offered by EBA and overcome its exclusive
dependence on exports of ready-made garments. The EU will provide trade-related technical assistance for
this purpose.

The EU-India Summit (23 November) provided a good demonstration of EU’s and India’s full commitment
to fight terrorism, in particular through a Joint Declaration against international terrorism. It allowed both
sides to take stock of important progress since the first Summit in Lisbon: signature of an Agreement on
Science and Technology, an Information Technology vision statement, the acknowledgement of great
progress in bringing together our civil societies (Round Table and Think Tanks network), start of
negotiations on a customs agreement and of maritime transports talks and other substantial results. The
progress made on the economic front were especially visible at the closure of the Business Summit which
submitted a set of recommendations to enhance trade and investment in four sectors (food processing,
engineering, telecommunications, information technology) to the Leaders. There was a clear call on both
sides to support a rapid expansion of the trade and investment between both markets. Both sides also
noted with satisfaction the results of the WTO Ministerial in Doha.

C 172 E/50

Official Journal of the European Communities

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18.7.2002

In the margin of the Summit during two days in New Delhi and one day in Hyderabad, Commissioner
Lamy had an intense round of contacts with representatives from the Government, Parliament, States
Authorities, NGO’s, media, and think-tanks to discuss how to take forward the Doha Development Agenda
and to ensure that developing countries such as India will benefit. Apart from the possibilities to enhance
EU-India co-operation in the WTO, discussions also covered prospects for solving bilateral trade irritants.

President Prodi’s visit to Mumbai on the 22 November 2001 was brief, but intense and fruitful. President
Prodi had the opportunity to meet with a large spectrum of Mumbai society: businessmen, industry and
finance representatives, Port operators, journalists and the Governor of the Central Bank as well as the
Governor of Maharashtra.

(2002/C 172 E/054)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3392/01

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN), Sergio Berlato (UEN),
Antonio Mussa (UEN), Mauro Nobilia (UEN)
and Franz Turchi (UEN) to the Commission

(7 December 2001)

Subject: Obliteration of Israel

The website of the Palestinian National Authority’s International Press Centre (http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_a/
ipc_a-1/a map/palcit-e.html) contains a map showing Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt but not Israel.
Instead, the territory enclosed within that country’s current borders is labelled ‘Palestine’. The map also fails
to show entire cities, such as Tel Aviv.

In view of this example of virtual computer ‘mystification’, would the Commission answer the following
questions:

1.

Is it aware of the contents of this official website?

2. Does it not consider that the deletion of a country and its population from an official Palestinian
National Authority document constitutes not only a worrying and dangerous attempt to undermine
the Middle East peace process but also an official endorsement of the extreme terrorist views of those
(Bin Laden included) who, in recent years, have worked D and continue to work D for the destruction
of Israel and the triumph of fundamentalist pan-Arabism?

3. What immediate action does it intend to take vis-à-vis the Palestinian National Authority in order to
ensure that the website is modified so as to reflect the actual political and geographical situation, with
a view to preventing the virtual obliteration of Israel (in the eyes of site users) from heralding actual
annihilation?

4. Does it not consider that investigations should be launched immediately into the use of the funding
made available by the EU to the Palestinian National Authority in order to enable books to be
purchased and schooling to be provided, so as to ascertain whether or not what children are taught in
school is based on the false information presented on the website? If it is, should payment of the
funding not be suspended?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(28 January 2002)

The Commission is aware of the Palestinian Authority’s International Press Centre web-site. The web-site
mentioned in the question is currently not accessible. Maps are available on other Palestinian Authority
web-sites such as the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).

The Commission notes that while not naming Israel explicitly on the maps, a clear distinction is made
between Israel and the Palestinian territories. The explanatory text attached to the maps explicitly refers to
the Palestinian territories in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.