WRITTEN QUESTION P-2420/02 by Marco Cappato (NI) to the Commission. Further humanitarian aid for North Korea.
Date: 2002-08-08
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: ECHO, EU relations, North Korea, administration of the Institutions, aid policy, health aid, humanitarian aid, hunger, use of aid

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Official Journal of the European Union

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Since the policy of privately insuring European citizens is constantly gaining ground and is replacing
public medical care and insurance services, will the Commission say:

1. Has it taken any measures to protect insured persons from arbitrary indexing practices by insurance

companies?

2. Has it made any provision for the implementation of common frameworks for insurance conditions in

contracts so as to protect insured persons in Europe?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(17 September 2002)

As the Honourable Member may know financial services companies, including insurance, are subject to the
principle of freedom of contract. The Commission does not in principle intervene in the insurance markets
nor interfere in the fixing of prices.

It seems that the aftermath of 11 September 2001 led to increases in reinsurance costs and consequently
increases in direct insurance premiums for a number of insurance products. Also the general downturn in
markets has reduced insurers’ investment returns and has increased pressure on prices. An unfavourable
investment climate means the return on investment of premium is reduced. The Commission makes every
effort to improve the efficiency of the internal insurance market. Its plans are set out in the Financial
Services Action Plan. It is persuaded that increased competition should help the consumer to find lower
prices as well as a wider choice of products.

Excessive prices may raise concern under the Community competition rules where they are imposed by a
dominant company. The Commission may also intervene if insurance companies have agreed or colluded
to fixed prices. However, similar price increases are not necessarily a sign of collusion, but might be a
rational individual response by each insurer to changes in external circumstances. For any intervention,
any allegation of collusion would need to be substantiated with evidence.

The concrete kind of practices of arbitrary indexing of prices by insurance undertakings to which the
Honourable Member refers is not clear for the Commission. Nevertheless, it should be noted that any
clause in an insurance contract which could be considered as abusive for the consumer would fall within
the scope of Council Directive 93/13/EEC of 5 April 1993 on unfair terms in cousumer contracts (1).

(1) OJ L 95, 21.4.1993.

(2004/C 51 E/006)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2420/02

by Marco Cappato (NI) to the Commission

(8 August 2002)

Subject: Further humanitarian aid for North Korea

The Commission has recently decided to extend humanitarian aid for North Korea by earmarking a further
EUR 4 175 million from the ECHO budget in order to fund basic health care structures in that country.
Meanwhile, the international press is increasingly reporting the alarming news that the North Korean
regime has been misappropriating humanitarian aid and using it to strengthen its military and police
forces.

What measures has the Commission taken to verify that humanitarian aid is not being used for the upkeep
of the repressive machinery of the Pyongyang regime?

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What agreements does the Commission have with the North Korean regime to ensure that these funds are
used exclusively to improve the living standards of North Korean civilians?

Does the Commission not think it is extremely urgent and necessary to set up a committee of inquiry into
the allocation of aid to North Korea, with a view to assessing its effectiveness and validity, and maybe even
suspending it?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(1 October 2002)

In the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) the Commission only funds projects carried out by
European non-governmental organisations
international
organisations as in all countries in which the Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) operates in
accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/96 of 20 June 1996, concerning humanitarian aid (1).

(NGOs), United Nations

(UN) agencies or

The allocation of funds referred to by the Honourable Member will be entirely channelled through
independent organisations: Danish Red Cross, the World Health Organisation, United Nations International
Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef) and Handicap International.

It will serve to support the following actions:

(cid:1) distribution of modern drug kits to over 1 700 health institutions in four different provinces;

(cid:1) provision of orthopaedic devices and adequate physiotherapeutic treatment to 3 200 people with

mobility impairment;

(cid:1) increase the availability of safe blood with reduced risk of transmitting viral infections through blood

transfusion in national provincial blood centres in DPRK;

(cid:1) life-saving nutritional rehabilitation for 10 000 severely malnourished children in baby homes and

paediatric and county hospitals.

The Commission has sought consistently to strengthen agreements with the DPRK authorities in respect of
its assistance, including the distribution of humanitarian aid. For instance this year an informal Letter of
Understanding was signed between the FDRC (2) and the ECHO office in Pyongyang laying down the
specific requirements which the Commission expects to be met during the implementation of ECHO
funded operations.

Moreover, at the regular Union Troika meetings with the DPRK, the Commission has consistently raised
the issue of working and access conditions for European NGOs and indeed there have been continuing
signs of improvement in that field.

ECHO has developed a comprehensive system of assessment and monitoring of all its projects and this is
implemented in DPRK.

Given the particular circumstances in this country, additional specific requirements are also applied and
funding is only granted:

(cid:1) to organisations that have an established and permanent presence in DPRK, so that continuous

monitoring can be carried out; and

(cid:1) in areas where the DPRK authorities have granted open access to ECHO’s implementing partners,
following the principle of ‘no access, no aid’ (today 173 out of the 211 counties are officially open to
international agencies in DPRK).

Furthermore, in relation to ECHO’s interventions in the health sector, the drugs distribution programme
funded in 2000/2001 has just been the object of an audit by the European Court of Auditors. The checks
carried out in April 2002 in the distribution process did not find any anomaly of the sort mentioned by

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the Honourable Member, and the visit to clinics randomly selected for the audit revealed that the
medicines contained in the Community funded kits were properly being used by doctors and their patients.

In view of the above, the Commission does not consider that a Committee of Enquiry, as suggested by the
Honourable Member, would be appropriate.

(1) OJ L 163, 2.7.1996.
(2)

FDRC: Flood Damage Rehabilitation Committee (the organisation designated by the DPRK government to deal with
European NGOs).

(2004/C 51 E/007)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2490/02

by Giacomo Santini (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(30 August 2002)

Subject: Case of the Italian woman married to a Tunisian who is being prevented from returning to Italy

with her children

Following the many cases involving women who are EU citizens married to citizens of third countries, the
most recent being that of Iris Moneta and her daughter Iman, held against their will in Syria by Iman’s
father who did not want her mother to take her back to Italy, news has emerged of a further case, which
has yet to be resolved, involving an Italian woman, Claudia Adami, her Tunisian husband, Afajed Garbouj,
and their two children, aged five and one-and-a-half.

Ms Adami travelled to Tunisia for the summer holidays and after her arrival in that country her husband
confiscated her passport, thereby preventing her from leaving the country of her own volition.

Moreover, when asked to intervene the Tunisian police essentially supported the woman’s husband,
preventing her from leaving the country with her children and consigning her to an enforced stay in a
hotel in Tunisia.

Is the Commission aware of this latest case involving the degradation of women in third countries and
restrictions on the freedom of movement of a Union citizen in Tunisia?

Not least in the light of the bilateral agreements in force between Tunisia and the European Union, what
practical steps does the Commission plan to take with a view to resolving this unfortunate case
immediately, and at what level does the Commission intend to make representations to the Tunisian
Government?

What measures does the Commission plan to take vis-à-vis the governments of all third countries with a
view to preventing further, similar cases involving serious violations of fundamental freedoms and human
rights, irrespective of race, religion, nationality and sex?

Answer from Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(4 October 2002)

The Commission is aware of the problems which can be caused by the separation of mixed couples where,
by law, the children cannot leave the father’s native country without the father’s permission.

The case of Mrs Adami has been brought to the Commission’s attention. It appears that the Tunisian
courts and authorities have made efforts to resolve the problem quickly, since the couple themselves have
not been able to reach an amicable settlement.

Independently of this specific case, during the meeting of the Social Affairs Group held in Tunis on June 25
this year under the Association Agreement,
the Commission stressed the importance it attached to
children’s well-being, and more generally, to observance of European legal decisions which granted the
right of custody to a sole parent in cases where this right was not shared.