WRITTEN QUESTION E-0104/02 by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission. Helms-Burton Act.
Date: 2002-01-29
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Cuba, EU national, EU relations, United States, admission of aliens, cultural object, national law

C 229 E/54

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

26.9.2002

Is the Commission aware of the progress of the experiment at Amerswiel prison in the municipality
2.
of Heerhugowaard, the Netherlands, which has already been going on for a year, involving eleven group
dwellings, which can house eight women prisoners each, in the form of ordinary housing blocks where
each prisoner has a key to her own bedroom and the warders only lock the front-door each evening, as a
result of which they assume the role of mentors, as described in the newspaper Trouw on 28 December
2001?

3.
Is the Commission aware that this type of incarceration reduces drug use, taking of medicines and
internal violence and assists social rehabilitation, while the prisoners give far more thought to things and
do not wish to risk being returned to a ‘normal’ institution, and that it has been concluded that this
method only fails in the case of prisoners who are likely to escape, aggressive or very lacking in
independence, as a result of which it has now also been decided to provide similar accommodation for
male prisoners at the neighbouring Zuider Bos institution?

4.
Is the Commission aware, furthermore, that in many cases, as a result of such projects as that in the
Spangen district of Delfshaven (an administrative subdivision of the municipality of Rotterdam) whereby
local-authority institutions or local residents’ organisations voluntarily provide accommodation in a shared
dwelling for homeless addicts who have been causing a nuisance but have not committed criminal
offences, addicts are ultimately motivated to participate voluntarily in drugs rehabilitation projects thanks
to the renewed familiarisation with more or less normal living conditions?

5. Will the Commission do its utmost to monitor this experiment in the Dutch prison system closely
and make the results available for the resocialisation of drug addicts who have been convicted of criminal
offences in other Member States?

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(28 February 2002)

The Commission is aware of the existence of the report ‘An overview study, assistance to drug users in
European Union Prisons’ by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.

In accordance with the subsidiarity principle the competence for prison services falls entirely on the
Member States. The Commission is, however, interested in the developments within the prison services of
Member States, notably in view to addiction-related issues and it puts considerable efforts in remaining
informed. The Commission services recently heard a lecture from an expert from the Netherlands which
did, however, not mention the Amerswiel experiment. The Dutch government has not informed the
Commission of either the experiment in the Penitentiary Institution Amerswiel or the project in Spangen.
Furthermore, the Commission did not receive any evaluation of these or comparable projects which would
render the Commission capable of judging the results of the approach taken.

The Commission 9 based on the contributions of the Member States 9 has started the mid-term
evaluation of the ‘EU Action Plan on Drugs (2000-2004)’ and it will carefully take into account aspects
related to prison services. If the Dutch government comes to the conclusion that the Amerswiel project
contributes to meeting the goals of the Action Plan, it may report on this.

(2002/C 229 E/058)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0104/02

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(29 January 2002)

Subject: Helms-Burton Act

1. Will the Commission estimate the number of EU citizens who have been refused access to the United
States following action under the Helms-Burton Act and other similar extra-territorial US laws?

26.9.2002

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 229 E/55

2. Will the Commission state its position vis-à-vis this matter, what representations have been made,
and with what success?

3. Will the Commission also indicate whether any EU Member State applies similar laws concerning
property in third countries that now prohibit the entry of any US citizens?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(26 February 2002)

Title IV of the ‘United States Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (Libertad) Act of 1996’, also known
as the ‘Helms-Burton Act’, empowers the United States Secretary of State to deny entry into the United
States to non-American nationals who, following the Cuban revolution in 1959, confiscated American
property on Cuba or trafficked in confiscated American property on Cuba. This applies equally,
irrespective of nationality, to key executives and shareholders of companies involved in such activities as
well as families of such persons.

the ‘Helms-Burton Act’,

Since the adoption of
the European Union has continuously opposed this
unilateral and extraterritorial US law. On 11 April 1997 and 18 May 1998, two understandings were
reached with the United States Administration regarding the common efforts to promote democracy in
Cuba and to develop agreed disciplines for the strengthening of investment protection. In particular, the
United States Administration declared its willingness to continue to consult with the United States
Congress with a view to obtaining a waiver authority for Title IV.

These consultations have not yet led to a suspension of Title IV. However, the Commission is not aware of
any action taken against Union nationals under Title IV since the agreements were reached in 1997 and
1998. As far as the Commission knows, only one Union national is subject to Title IV sanctions which,
however, predate the understandings. It should nevertheless be noted that the Commission can only be
aware of cases of which it has been informed, notably in the case of Union nationals working for non
Union companies.

The Commission continues systematically to raise this matter with the United States in the framework of
its bilateral contacts under the Union-United States New Transatlantic Agenda expressing its opposition to
any unilateral and extraterritorial sanction law, such as the Helms-Burton Act, and its concerns about the
lack of a waiver authority for Title IV of the Act.

Finally, the Commission is not aware of any measure applied by Member States similar to the Helms-
Burton Act.

(2002/C 229 E/059)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0109/02

by Theresa Villiers (PPE-DE) to the Council

(29 January 2002)

Subject: Euro and ERM II

If the UK were to decide to join the euro, would it have to participate in ERM II? If so, for what length of
time would it have to be a member of ERM II?

Reply

(25 June 2002)

The Council invites the Honourable Member to refer to the reply to question 3180/00, which she had
asked on the same subject in 2000.