WRITTEN QUESTION E-1409/02 by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Council. Violation of humanitarian principles in Chechnya.
Date: 2002-05-22
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU relations, Russia, humanitarian aid, international issue, war of independence

12.12.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 309 E/119

(2002/C 309 E/140)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1408/02

by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Council

(22 May 2002)

Subject: Rules on the use of languages in connection with the Community patent

On 10 April 2002, the European Parliament squandered its last opportunity to advise the Council to alter
the rules on the use of languages in connection with the Community patent to include all official
languages of the EU.

In a letter to the Flanders-Netherlands Cultural Treaty Commission, Louis Michel, the Belgian Federal
Minister for Foreign Affairs, has written: ‘I fully appreciate the importance which the [Flanders-Netherlands
Cultural Treaty] Commission attaches to the use of Dutch on a footing of equality with other languages at
the Patent Office’. At the same time, he said that ‘as soon as the (Spanish) Presidency-in-Office of the
Council makes specific proposals on the subject, my staff will convene a special coordination meeting so
that Belgium’s position on the matter can be formulated, and the concerns expressed in Flanders will
certainly be taken into account in doing so’.

1.
Does the Council consider the present proposal concerning the use of languages in connection with
the Community patent to be in accordance with the principle of non-discrimination among Community
languages? If so, how does it justify the exclusion of Dutch, Greek, Finnish, Portuguese, Swedish and
Danish? If not, what will the Council do to prevent discrimination against six official languages of the
Community?

2. Will the Council also ensure that such discrimination is avoided in future, even if it appears to secure
ample democratic support in the European Parliament and other EU institutions thanks to cunning
selection of the languages affected?

3.

Has the Spanish Presidency-in-Office made any specific proposals on the subject yet?

Reply

(3 October 2002)

The Council has been informed of the amendments to the proposal for a Council Regulation on the
1.
Community patent, including the rules on the use of languages, tabled by the European Parliament on
10 April 2002; it has not yet examined those amendments in detail.

2. With regard to the principle of non-discrimination, the Council recalls what was stated by the
Barcelona European Council:
‘The Community Patent must be an efficient and flexible instrument
obtainable by businesses at an affordable cost, while complying with the principles of legal certainty and
non-discrimination between Member States and ensuring a high level of quality.’ The Council will bear
those directives in mind when examining the Community patent system, including its language aspects.

3.
At its meeting on 21 May 2002, the Council examined a draft common political approach submitted
by the Presidency regarding the main principles and features of the Community patent, including language
aspects. It agreed to regard that common political approach as the basis for further work. The Council will
review the balance of the resulting overall package to ensure that a final and global agreement will meet
the criteria laid down by the European Council, reflecting the needs of business.

(2002/C 309 E/141)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1409/02

by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Council

(22 May 2002)

Subject: Violation of humanitarian principles in Chechnya

In answer to Question H-0060/02 (1), the Council stated that it would be discussing Chechnya with the
Russian authorities on 28 May 2002.

C 309 E/120

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

12.12.2002

On 16 April 2002, the European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Poul Nielson,
presented ECHO’s annual report. The Commissioner took the opportunity to draw attention to the
growing tendency to disregard international humanitarian principles. The Commissioner considered that
there were no circumstances which could justify this attitude. In addition to Israel, he mentioned Russia
(Chechnya), where aid workers were unable to work unhindered or to use VHF radio communications.

Will the Council use this information from Commissioner Nielson to persuade the Russian authorities that
they must seek a political solution to the conflict in Chechnya in the spirit of the European Parliament’s
resolution of 10 April 2002? If not, why not?

How and to what extent did the Council raise the issue of Chechnya, and is it continuing to do so, at the
preparatory and preliminary meetings before the EU-Russia summit on 29 May 2002?

(1) Oral answer of 13.3.2002.

Reply

(3 October 2002)

The Council
is fully informed of Commission concerns regarding the difficulty of carrying out
humanitarian operations in the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation. It goes without saying that
the Council fully supports Commission positions on this in all political dialogue meetings with the Russian
authorities. As previously stated in answer to parliamentary questions E-0264/02 and H-0358/02, the EU
is convinced that only a political solution can solve the Chechen conflict. For this reason, the issue of
Chechnya was raised at all preparatory meetings for the EU-Russia summit of 29 May 2002, as well as at
the summit itself.

(2002/C 309 E/142)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1412/02

by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(23 May 2002)

Subject: Exclusive shop for EU officials in Brussels

Commissioner Kinnock recently had a shop opened in Wetenschapsstraat/rue de la Science in Brussels
which is reserved for the use of European officials. It is a branch of Delhaize, which evidently submitted
the best tender under the public procurement procedure. According to newspaper articles, the shop is
‘solely for the use of European officials’, signs are bilingual in French and English, and the language spoken
is French. More generally, the shop sells a relatively wide range of luxury goods.

this ‘EU supermarket’

in Wetenschapsstraat/rue de la Science, will
At
adherence to the bilingualism provided for by the Belgian Constitution for the Brussels Capital Region?

the Commission arrange for

Do European officials really need a shop specially reserved for them or could they not, like the million
other residents of Brussels, make do with the goods already on offer elsewhere in this multicultural
metropolis? In other words, what do EU officials gain from this shop?

Does the Commission agree that such exclusive shops, far from reducing the gulf between Europe and its
citizens, is liable to increase it and that they are therefore very bad for Europe’s general image?