WRITTEN QUESTION E-2757/02 by Glyn Ford (PSE) to the Commission. North-East Asia Development Bank.
Date: 2002-10-01
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Asia, World Bank, aid policy, development aid, development bank, international finance

3.7.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 155 E/49

(2003/C 155 E/055)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2757/02

by Glyn Ford (PSE) to the Commission

(1 October 2002)

Subject: North-East Asia Development Bank

Further to the answer to my Oral Question H-0366/02 (1) regarding the importance of significant
investment in North-East Asia, and in the absence of support for a North-East Asia Development Bank, can
the Commission indicate how it is going to ensure that the much needed emphasis on North-East Asia is
actually implemented through the existing International Financial
Institutions (IFIs) such as the Asia
Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WB)?

(1) Written answer dated 11 June 2002.

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(6 November 2002)

The fact that the Member States and not the Commission are members of the international financial
institutions identified in the written question makes it essentially impossible for the Community to
influence their lending decisions. The resources made available by the Union Budget remain the sole
financial
in the
instrument available to the Commission to influence North-East Asia’s development,
framework set by the relevant Council Regulations. However, this situation does not prevent International
financial
institutions and the Commission from developing synergies and coordination between their
respective cooperation strategies and activities, if and when they are active in that area.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB), for example, does design and pursue regional development strategies
(South Asia, Mekong Basin), while noting that such a regional approach may become more complex to
design and implement when substantial heterogeneity between individual country situations exists.

(2003/C 155 E/056)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2760/02

by Frank Vanhecke (NI) to the Commission

(1 October 2002)

Subject: The Union’s asylum policy

On Friday, 13 September 2002, the Union’s Ministers for Home Affairs, meeting in Copenhagen, agreed to
draw up in the near future a uniform Community programme for the voluntary or compulsory
repatriation of illegal refugees or asylum-seekers who had exhausted all the relevant legal procedures.
According to a report in the French newspaper ‘Le Figaro’ on Saturday, 14 September 2002, both amount
to the introduction of ‘European charters’. The creation of a Community fund to pay for such charters was
also proposed. According to the European Commissioner with special responsibility for justice and home
affairs, Antonio Vitorino, the aim was to create added value in the organisation of Community repatriation
programmes.

Can the Commission give a minimum and maximum estimate of the number of illegal
currently on the territory of the Union, broken down by Member State?

immigrants

How many illegal immigrants were repatriated from the Union during the last four years?

Does the Commission have available a list of what are known as ‘safe countries’
applications for political asylum may be made?

from which no

What is the Commission’s opinion of the setting up of a Community fund to finance the repatriation of
illegal refugees, and against which budget line could it be entered?