WRITTEN QUESTION E-3834/02 by Philip Bushill-Matthews (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Human rights in India.
Date: 2003-01-09
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU relations, India, human rights, political prisoner

C 192 E/140

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

14.8.2003

According to the information supplied by Egnatia Odos S.A.:

(cid:1) 170 contracts had been signed in the framework of PP 701 by the end of 2001;

(cid:1) the contracts were awarded after a call for tenders in accordance with national and Community

legislation.

The particulars of the contracts (cid:1) date of signature, subject, timetable for completion (but not the names
of the contractors, which are not usually notified to the Commission) (cid:1) are contained in the table supplied
by Egnatia Odos S.A. with the periodical progress report submitted in accordance with Decision C(2001)
3898/10 of 30 November 2001. A copy of this table will also be sent to the Honourable Member and the
Secretariat General of Parliament.

The total amount paid in 2001 and 2002 was EUR 9 250 000, or 30,8 % of the EUR 30 million figure.

The Community Support Framework 2000-2006 for Greece provides for a substantial amount of financial
assistance from both the European Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund,
for the
construction of the Egnatia motorway and its perpendicular offshoots. EUR 1 150 million in subsidies is
planned for the Egnatia road and about EUR 300 million for the construction of the perpendicular routes
linking Egnatia with Greece’s borders with four other States. The Community Support Framework and the
Cohesion Fund 1994-1999 for Greece also contributed with subsidies amounting to EUR 760 million for
the construction of the Egnatia motorway.

In the last five years the European Investment Bank has also approved loans of EUR 1 500 million to
Greece for financing the Egnatia motorway.

The Greek authorities have informed the Commission that 153 kilometres of new dual two-lane motorway
have already been completed and are in use on the Egnatia link, and that by the end of 2002 an additional
150 new kilometres will be completed and in use. On the basis of the same estimate by the Greek
authorities, 530 kilometres of new dual
two-lane motorway on the Egnatia route cofinanced by
Community funds should have been completed and be in use by the end of 2005.

(2003/C 192 E/176)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3834/02

by Philip Bushill-Matthews (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(9 January 2003)

Subject: Human rights in India

Does the Commission agree that the jailing of the ailing and elderly Syed Ali Geelani in Ranchi jail in
India, thousands of kilometres away from his home in Kashmir, is an abuse of his human rights? What will
the Commission do to motivate the Indian Authorities to move him to Srinagar?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(3 February 2003)

In response to the Honourable Member’s question concerning the legality of the imprisonment of Hurriyat
leader Syed Shah Ali Geelani,
the Commission has noted the Kashmir High Court’s decision of
5 September 2002 in which it declared that it was illegal for Mr Geelani to be held outside Kashmir. The
Commission has also noted the 12 November 2002 statement by Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed
in which he committed himself to freeing political prisoners, and in particular to releasing Mr Geelani in
the near future. These elements should be assessed in relation to the positive context which has emerged
from the regional elections of September-October 2002.