WRITTEN QUESTION P-1736/02 by Claude Moraes (PSE) to the Commission. Western Sahara and the Saharawi right to self-determination.
Date: 2002-06-10
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU relations, Morocco, Western Sahara, arms trade, international issue, referendum, self-determination, the EU's international role

C 137 E/24

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

12.6.2003

In view of the disparate tasks of the Commission’s Representations and their evolving role the cost-benefit
ratio of the provision of information about the Union is difficult to assess accurately. It is clear, however,
that improvements can and must be made. With the adoption of the new Communication on ‘an
information and communication strategy for the Union’, and the gradual implementation of the proposals
it contains, the Commission is confident that working in partnership with the Parliament and Member
States the provision of information to citizens will be more effective.

(1) COM(2001) 354 final.
(2) COM(2002) 350 final.

(2003/C 137 E/026)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1736/02

by Claude Moraes (PSE) to the Commission

(10 June 2002)

Subject: Western Sahara and the Saharawi right to self-determination

Does the Commission support the Saharawi right to self-determination?

Does the Commission support the call for a referendum that will enable the Saharawi to have the right to
form their own government?

Does the Commission agree that the sale of arms to Morocco is enabling that country to use them to keep
the Saharawi out of their own country?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(3 July 2002)

The Commission has always fully supported the views and actions of the United Nations concerning the
Western Saharan Territory. This includes the recognition of the Territory as a non-self-governing one, as
stated by the United Nations General Assembly, as well as the efforts of the United Nations Secretary
General, Mr Kofi Annan, and his Personal Envoy, Mr James Baker III, in order to bring the parties in
conflict to reach a mutually acceptable solution.

The United Nations Secretary General and the Security Council are still aiming this year to identify a viable
option for a resolution of this conflict. In his report of 19 February 2002, Kofi Anan gives four options for
consideration by the Security Council. The Security Council has decided to extend the mandate of the
United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara until 31 July 2002 in order to consider
further the above mentioned report of the Secretary General. At this sensitive stage in their work,
the Commission and the Union want to make sure that no step is taken that would make their action
more difficult. The Commission follows attentively the developments concerning this matter and stands
ready to examine any requests for Community support in the context of a final settlement which respects
international legality.

Humanitarian action taken through the European Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), consisting of food and
medical aid, amounts to EUR 81 million between 1993 and 2001; and another EUR 14 million has been
proposed for 2002. In addition, the Commission is actively asking for the adoption of confidence-building
measures, such as the release of war prisoners, the facilitation of contacts and visits between members of
separated families. Those measures will help create better conditions for a fruitful dialogue between the
parties in conflict.

At the recent Ministerial Troika meeting in Algiers on 5 June 2002 the Union seized the opportunity to
transmit the European concerns and demands on humanitarian aspects of the Western Sahara conflict.
The Union confirmed its support to the United Nations efforts to find a mutually acceptable solution.
It urged both parties to solve the problem of the fate of unaccounted people and to release all those held
since the start of the conflict. The Union also asked for the full respect of civil guaranties and human rights
in the Western Sahara territories; and it also asked both parties in conflict to favour the contacts and visits
between members of the families separated by the conflict.

12.6.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 137 E/25

Finally, the importance of the ratification of the Association Agreements with Morocco (1) and Algeria (2) in
this context should not be underestimated. These agreements foresee a regular and institutional political
dialogue between the Union and each related country.

In force since 1 March 2000.

(1)
(2) Signed in Valencia, on 22 April 2002, needs to be ratified by every national parliament as well as by the Parliament.

(2003/C 137 E/027)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1757/02

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(19 June 2002)

Subject: Possible exclusion from elections, or unequal treatment, of political parties on the basis of the
parties’ manifestos or ideologies as a consequence of a draft law in the Slovak Republic

Does the Commission agree with me that the only political system acceptable in current and future
1.
Member States of the EU must be a parliamentary democracy in which political parties may not be banned
from legally existing as an organisation or excluded from participation in elections on the basis of a
parliamentary majority which rejects their manifestos or ideologies?

Is the Commission aware that, on 25 April 2002, three members of the Obcianska Konservativna
2.
Strana (Civic Conservative Party) in the Slovak Parliament (Národná Rada Slovenskej Republiky) tabled a
motion seeking the incorporation in the Penal Code, as from 1 July 2002, of a new § 261 whereby any
person who, in public, expressed support for Fascism, Communism or other movements of that nature as
listed in § 260 or who denied, doubted, approved or tried to justify the crimes committed by those
movements would be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of between six months and three years? Is it
further aware that, on the basis of a narrow majority secured in a parliamentary committee, that motion
will be put to the vote in plenary before the end of June?

Does the Commission share the view notified to me by the author of the motion, Frantisek Sebej,
3.
that the new provision is aimed solely at making denial of political crimes committed in the past into a
criminal offence, similar to of the criminalisation of the offence of denial of the Holocaust (the mass
extermination of human beings in concentration camps such as Auschwitz), or does it acknowledge a
justification for the fear that the provision might be used, or misused, now or at some time in the future,
to prohibit the formation of political parties on the basis of their ideology and to exclude them from
participating in elections?

4.
Is the Commission prepared to point out to the Slovak Parliament and Government in no uncertain
terms that acceptance or prohibition of political parties on the basis of their manifestos and ideologies, as
occurred in the past, is absolutely incompatible with Slovakia’s application for accession to the European
Union?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(25 July 2002)

The Union, including the Commission, has close relations with Slovakia as a country applying for full
membership. Membership is only possible, however, when Slovakia meets a set of political and economic
criteria established by the Copenhagen Council in 1993. The basic political criterion is the stability of
institutions, guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law and human rights. In its Regular Reports of 1999,
2000 and 2001, the Commission came to the conclusion that the Slovak Republic meets this criterion.

The Commission is aware of the draft amendment to the Criminal Code, tabled by Members of the Civic
Conservative Party. According to its information, the second (out of three) reading of the draft will take
place before the next Parliamentary Elections in September 2002. At present, the Commission does not
deem an interference in the democratic parliamentarian process in Slovakia to be appropriate.

In case of adoption of the draft law, the Commission will assess it in the light of the above mentioned
criteria. Should a violation of one of the fundamental principles occur, the Commission will raise this issue
at the appropriate level and fora, including in the next Regular Report, due to be published in October
2002.