WRITTEN QUESTION E-3520/02 by Ursula Schleicher (PPE-DE) to the Council. Statute and financing of European political parties.
Date: 2002-12-10
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Council of the European Union, EC Regulation, European Court of Auditors, Treaty of Nice, legal basis, party financing, political parties

18.9.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 222 E/79

The policy envisaged by the Commission will benefit, and is supported by, both low cost and
5.
traditional network carriers. Their relationship will be determined by commercial and operational
considerations, rather than by limits in bilateral air services agreements.

(2003/C 222 E/090)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3520/02

by Ursula Schleicher (PPE-DE) to the Council

(10 December 2002)

Subject: Statute and financing of European political parties

Since the European Parliament opinion of 17 May 2001, the Council regulation on the statute and
financing of European political parties has been the subject of a so far fruitless discussion in the Council of
Ministers. On account of criticism from the European Court of Auditors, this regulation is intended to be a
transitional measure until the entry into force of the Treaty of Nice, which establishes an autonomous legal
basis.

Any new Commission proposal in accordance with the legal basis established by the Treaty of Nice will be
debated with the European Parliament under the codecision procedure. How does the Council intend to
come to a workable solution for this transitional period that also stands up to criticism from the Court of
Auditors?

Reply

(13 May 2003)

The Treaty of Nice, which creates a new legal basis for the Regulation referred to in the question, entered
into force on 1 February 2003. There is thus no longer a transitional period in the sense meant by the
Honourable Member in her question.

(2003/C 222 E/091)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3526/02

by Olivier Dupuis (NI) to the Commission

(10 December 2002)

Subject: Travel ban imposed on Mr Sadri Khiari

Since the beginning of October 2002, Mrs Radhia Nasraoui, lawyer at the bar of Tunis, has twice appeared
before the senior member of the investigating judges in the hope of obtaining clarification on court
proceedings relating to the events of March 1997 and March 2000 concerning her client Mr Sadri Khiari,
a painter and member of RAID/Attac Tunisie (Rally for an International Alternative for Development) and
CNLT (National Council on Liberties in Tunisia). As before, Mrs Nasraoui was given no response. However,
representatives of the interior ministry invoked these exact same alleged incidents as a justification for
forbidding Sadri Khiari to leave Tunisian territory when they finally returned his passport to him on
16 June 2001, a year after he requested it be renewed. Since that time, Mr Khairi has been to Tunis-
Carthage airport six times and on each occasion has been prevented from leaving the country.

Is the Commission aware of the travel ban on Sadri Khiari? Does the Commission not consider that the
legal authorities’ refusal to provide any information about the reasons why the travel ban was imposed,
and their repeated refusal to allow Sadri Khiari to travel freely, constitute a further example of the
arbitraryconduct of the Tunisian police and additional proof of the Tunisian authorities’ contempt for the
principle of judicial
independence, and of theexisting laws and international conventions ratified by
Tunisia? What measures has the Commission taken, or does it intend to take, under the terms of the
association agreement between the European Union and Tunisia, to ensure that the latter ends the
persecution of Mr Khiari and on a more general levelfully complies with Article 2 of the agreement?