European Parliament resolution on  Zimbabwe
Date: 2001-12-13
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: EU relations, Zimbabwe, diplomatic relations, economic sanctions, economic situation, human rights, political situation, political violence, social situation

25.7.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 177 E/305

Thursday 13 December 2001

9.
Strongly urges the Council and the Member States to make rapid progress with the proposal for a
directive on the activities of institutions for occupational retirement provision, which will ensure mutual
recognition of occupational pension schemes and will significantly contribute to effective tax coordination
action;

10.
Calls on the Member States to make progress in assessing the possibilities for co-ordination of their
tax policy in respect of occupational pension provision while continuing to respect the Member States’
specific conditions for the granting of tax concessions for non-migrant workers;

11.
Calls on the Commission, together with the Member States and the Pension Forum, to find an
adequate solution to the tax obstacles hindering the transfer of accumulated pension rights to pension
funds within and outside the Member States, a solution which combines the maintenance of pension rights
with greater worker mobility;

12.
Supports the proposal for pan-European pension institutions as reflected in the Commission’s com-
munication; calls on firms wishing to set up pan-European pension funds to launch initiatives to that end;
calls on the Member States to facilitate and encourage this in other firms and sectors; asks the Commission
to address the specific situation of frontier workers in the framework of this proposal; calls furthermore for
a statute for a pension fund to be set up for migrant and frontier workers;

13.
Calls on the Commission and the Member States to grant migrant and frontier workers easier access
to information on the benefits and the drawbacks of cross-border pension schemes, so as to enable them
to become more aware of their rights and also the difficulties which they might encounter concerning the
tax treatment of cross-border occupational pension schemes; considers that such information should be
provided inter alia within the framework of EURES; calls for the EURES network to be strengthened to
enable those tasks to be carried out more effectively;

14.
Urges the Commission to submit to the special European Council in Barcelona next spring an
action plan for the coordination of taxation on pensions, as a follow-up to the plans which are to be
prepared at the Laeken European Council;

Suggests that the Commission set up a scoreboard, adjusted regularly, to assess progress with the

15.
automatic exchange of information, assistance with collection and mutual recognition and supervision;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and Commission and the govern-

16.
ments and parliaments of the Member States.

18. Zimbabwe

B5-0759, 0774, 0787, 0788, 0799 and 0801/2001

European Parliament resolution on Zimbabwe

The European Parliament,

2 having regard to its resolutions of 13 April 2000 (1), 18 May 2000 (2), 6 July 2000 (3), 15 March

2001 (4) and 6 September 2001 (5) on the situation in Zimbabwe,

2 having regard to the Agreement reached in Abuja on 6 September 2001 between the Committee of
Commonwealth Foreign Ministers, including a number of African States, and the Zimbabwean Gov-
ernment to return Zimbabwe to the rule of law and end all illegal occupations of farmland,

(1) OJ C 40, 7.2.2001, p. 425.
(2) OJ C 59, 23.2.2001, p. 241.
(3) OJ C 121, 24.4.2001, p. 394.
(4) OJ C 343, 5.12.2001, p. 304.
(5)
‘Texts Adopted’, Item 13.

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2 having regard to the General Affairs Council conclusions of 25 June 2001, 8 October 2001,
29 October 2001 and 10 December 2001, which noted that no visible progress had been made to
end political violence, expressed its hope that the Government of Zimbabwe would invite the EU to
send observers to monitor the presidential elections in March 2002 and launched the consultation
procedure provided for in Article 96 of the Cotonou Agreement (1),

2 having regard to further repressive legislation put forward by the Mugabe regime since September
2001, including the Land Acquisition Act, the Public Order and Security Bill, amendments to the
Electoral Act, and the Access to Information and Privacy Bill,

2 having regard to the meeting of the SADC Task Force on developments in Zimbabwe which took

place in Harare on the 10/11 December 2001,

2 having regard to the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Bill passed by the US Congress
on 4 December 2001, which paves the way for the US Administration to introduce targeted travel and
financial sanctions against Mugabe and his associates, including the freezing of assets,

2 having regard to UN Security Council Resolution 1376, adopted on 9 November 2001, which called
for all states to withdraw their forces from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and condemned
all illegal exploitation of natural resources in that country,

2 having regard to the visit of the EU Troika to Harare on 23 November 2001, when President Mugabe

refused to accept EU monitors at the forthcoming presidential elections,

2 having regard to the proposed meeting of the EU Presidency and Commission with representatives of
the Government of Zimbabwe in Brussels during the week beginning 17 December 2001, under the
terms of Article 96 of the Cotonou Agreement,

A. whereas the further deterioration in the rule of law and human rights in Zimbabwe is the direct result
of the deliberate and reprehensible actions of the Mugabe regime, taken in flagrant defiance of the
commitments it made at the Abuja Conference, with at least 20 new farm invasions,

B. whereas mobs of ZANU-PF activists have been running riot, unconstrained by police intervention, for
example in Bulawayo on 16 November 2001, when two people were killed, hundreds injured and the
headquarters of the Movement for Democratic Change set on fire,

C. whereas the Mugabe regime has systematically pursued a policy of persecution against the MDC in
recent months, including trumped-up charges against its leader Morgan Tsvangirai and imprisonment
of its treasurer and member of parliament, Fletcher Dulini, with members being routinely subjected to
harassment and violent intimidation, and going in fear of their lives,

D. whereas the various legislative measures and actions taken in recent months by the Mugabe regime are
clearly designed to intimidate the political opposition and to subvert the democratic process in Zimb-
abwe in the run-up to next year’s presidential elections,

E. whereas the Supreme Court judgement of 3 December 2001, that supported President Mugabe’s Land
Acquisition Act, indicates the extent to which the rule of law has been subverted by the partisan
appointment of a new Chief Justice and three new judges to the Supreme Court in recent months,

(1) OJ L 317, 15.12.2000, p. 3.

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F. whereas on 29 November 2001 the Government of Zimbabwe approved the Access to Information
and Protection of Privacy Bill, which is designed to impose significant restrictive and punitive
measures on the media, with licensing of Zimbabwean journalists, penalties for those who breach a
strict code of conduct and restrictions on foreign journalists, and has the potential to destroy the
independent press,

G. whereas amendments to the Electoral Act are clearly designed to disenfranchise groups like itinerant
farm-workers and will effectively deny the vote to hundreds of thousands of young people without
jobs, and whereas calls for Zimbabweans living overseas to return home to claim their right to vote
should be supported,

H. whereas a disproportionate share of land taken from the 1 700 white-owned farms has gone to sup-
porters of President Mugabe, and whereas a UNDP technical team is currently in Zimbabwe assessing
the possibility of a credible land reform programme,

I. whereas Mugabe’s policies have created a humanitarian disaster that is impoverishing Zimbabwe as
nearly three-quarters of Zimbabwe’s 12,5 million people live in abject poverty, inflation is at 98 %, the
economy is set to shrink by 7,3 % in 2001, arrears on foreign debt stand at € 766 million, and a
dramatic decline in food production has forced the World Food Programme to mount a massive relief
operation to feed over 500 000 Zimbabweans, who now face hunger and starvation,

J. whereas on 2 December 2001 President Mugabe arrived in Spain to receive medical treatment,

K. whereas the international criticism and reaction to recent events in Zimbabwe has grown increasingly
resolute, as seen in the refusal of traditional allies like South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, Lesotho
and Zambia to back Zimbabwe at the most recent ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly session,

1.
Deplores the intensification of violence, intimidation and murder which President Mugabe and the
ruling Zanu-PF party have unleashed against political opponents and farmers in spite of pledges at Abuja;

Abhors the measures to restrict freedom of expression, particularly the Public Order and Security Bill
2.
and the death threats against journalists in Zimbabwe, which are little more than a cynical attempt to gag
the activities of the media and opposition;

3.
Condemns the Government’s ongoing attacks on the lives and livelihoods of farmers, particularly the
amendment to the Land Acquisition Act of 12 November 2001 that requires farmers issued with acquisi-
tion orders by the government to stop farming immediately and to remain confined to their houses until
their forced departure from their property three months later;

4.
Condemns the actions of the Mugabe regime to control the judiciary for selfish political ends and
urges the Zimbabwean Government to do what is necessary to guarantee the independence of the judiciary
system;

5.
Demands that the Mugabe regime immediately fulfil its international obligations to withdraw its
troops from the DRC and cease its involvement in the exploitation of the mineral resources of that
country;

Applauds those politicians and citizens of Zimbabwe who, often in fear of their lives, continue to

6.
stand up for freedom of expression and democratic values;

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Urges the Presidency of the Council and the Commission now to take urgent and resolute action and,

7.
in their forthcoming dealings with Zimbabwean Government representatives, to insist upon:

(i)

an immediate end to political violence and a return to the rule of law in Zimbabwe, with guarantees
for the basic democratic and human rights, including the safety of opposition politicians,

(ii)

free and fair presidential elections to be held in March 2002 at the latest, with full support for inter-
national monitoring, including by the EU,

(iii) an end to the arbitrary seizure of farms and the initiation of a fair process of land redistribution in

accordance with the Abuja Agreement,

(iv) measures to guarantee the independence of the judiciary and the impartiality of the police,

(v) concrete action to protect the freedom of expression of the media,

(vi) guarantees that international agencies and NGOs will not be impeded in the distribution of food and

other humanitarian aid;

8.
Calls on the Presidency of the Council and Commission to commence the 60-day countdown to
further action, as stipulated in Article 96 of the Cotonou Agreement, and to seek the widest possible inter-
national agreement for tough action against the Mugabe regime;

9.
Calls on the European Council urgently to adopt so-called ‘smart sanctions’ against Zimbabwe includ-
ing the identification and freezing of assets held in European countries and countries closely associated by
President Mugabe, his family, and named close associates, and EU-wide visa restrictions on President
Mugabe, his family, and named close associates;

Condemns the Zimbabwe Government’s refusal to establish an Independent Electoral Commission
10.
(IEC) to conduct next year’s presidential election announced for March 2002, stresses that the establish-
ment of an IEC is a minimum condition for a free and fair election, and calls for Electoral Commissioners
to be vetted by a bipartisan Parliamentary Select Committee before confirmation;

11.
Calls on the Commission and the Member States to urge President Mugabe to implement urgently
the recommendations adopted by all SADC countries at the SADC Parliamentary Forum in March 2000,
on norms and standards for elections, including the establishment of an Independent Electoral Commis-
sion, equal access to the state-owned media, the impartiality of government security forces, foreign
observers, the introduction of new secure ballot boxes, and the preparation of an accurate and transparent
voters’ roll;

12.
Congratulates the SADC for its resolute stance in recent months against the excesses of the Mugabe
regime and urges the heads of government of the neighbouring states to increase their pressure upon
Mr Mugabe by refusing to recognise a victory for Mr Mugabe if he fails to abide by the norms and
standards on elections agreed in March 2000;

13.
Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the governments
of the Member States and of the candidate countries, the Government and Parliament of Zimbabwe, the
Secretary-General of the United Nations, the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, the Secretary-General
of the OAU, the Secretary-General of the SADC, the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth and the
President of the World Bank.