WRITTEN QUESTION E-3901/02 by Lennart Sacrédeus (PPE-DE) to the Council. EU, UN drugs conference April 2003 in Vienna and support for parents in bringing up their children.
Date: 2003-01-14
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: UN convention, drug addiction, parental responsibility, the EU's international role

18.9.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 222 E/125

(c)

research into the impact of pesticides on health?

(d)

research into the environmental impact of pesticides?

(e) development of alternative methods of controlling harmful organisms in agriculture?

(f) development of alternative methods of controlling harmful organisms outside agriculture and for

biocides?

(g) development of an integrated cultivation method in agriculture?

(h)

reducing the use of and dependence on pesticides in general?

3. How does the Commission publish the findings of such research and/or disseminate them proactively

in the EU?

Answer given by Mr Busquin on behalf of the Commission

(14 February 2003)

1.
From 1984 to 2002 (cid:1) 298 projects related to pesticides were supported within different Community
Framework Research Programmes. A list of their titles grouped by the different Framework Programmes is
sent direct to the Honourable Member and to the Secretariat General of the Parliament (Annex I).
However, the most relevant research related to the strategy for the sustainable use of pesticides is currently
being carried out by projects supported under the 5th Framework Programme. From 1999 to 2002, 114
projects related to pesticides were supported with a Community-contribution of EUR 164,7 million which
is 1,2 % of the total Budget for 5th Framework Programme on Research and Development.

2.
The table in Annex II which is sent direct to the Honourable Member and to Parliament’s Secretariat
provides an overview of the projects per topic listed in the written question. Also, this information is based
on those supported under the 5th Framework Programme related to the strategy for the sustainable use of
pesticides.

3.
The Commission is publishing the results of research projects by means of project lists in catalogues
and the Cordis-database, which is accessible through the Cordis-web-site. In addition, each research project
has a specific dissemination strategy involving publication in scientific journals, presentations at different
relevant conferences and meetings. At the end of research projects consortia are requested to furnish
details of their results in a ‘Technology Implementation Plan’ which are published later on Cordis. More
information about projects
found on http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/agriculture/
research_themes/plant_health.html. In 2003 this site will also begin to disseminate project results.

can also be

(2003/C 222 E/145)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3901/02

by Lennart Sacrédeus (PPE-DE) to the Council

(14 January 2003)

Subject: EU, UN drugs conference April 2003 in Vienna and support for parents in bringing up their

children

A major review of UN drugs policy, which is based on the 1961, 1971 and 1988 UN Conventions on
drugs, is to take place in April 2003 in Vienna.

Will the EU continue to advocate a restrictive drugs policy and that the UN Conventions should be upheld
rather than scrapped or relaxed?

Is the Council prepared to adhere to the important principle of giving parents the basic support they need
in bringing up their children to avoid drug addiction, which means that legislation (and therefore society),
together with the UN Conventions, should continue to criminalise and reject drug use?

C 222 E/126

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

18.9.2003

Reply

(8 May 2003)

Council bodies started to prepare the position of the European Union for aforementioned conference. So far
a possible amendment of UN Conventions has not been discussed. The position of the European Union
will be guided by the EU Action Plan on drugs that was agreed in June 2000. Paragraph 5.2 of the Action
plan states that international cooperation be developed on the base principles adopted at the United
Nations General Assembly in June 1998. In paragraph 2 of the Political Declaration adopted at that
occasion need for adherence to the three international conventions was affirmed.

In the mid-term evaluation of the Action Plan it is said that national drugs policies should be allowed to
reflect different approaches as to tackle the drugs problem, reflecting national differences in problems,
culture, resources etc.

As regards support for parents in bringing up their children, in paragraph 3.1 of the Action Plan on drugs
2000-2004 Member States are encouraged to include in school curricula the prevention of licit and illicit
drugs in schools and to set up programs to assist parents.

(2003/C 222 E/146)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3903/02

by Bill Newton Dunn (ELDR) to the Council

(14 January 2003)

Subject: Very unpleasant experience of my constituent at Brussels Midi railway station

At the end of October the wife (who is from Belarus) of one of my British constituents decided to return
to her home for a visit by train. She took the Eurostar train from London to Brussels and did not realise (cid:1)
unwisely (cid:1) that she needed a transit visa for Belgium.

Despite having a valid passport and rail tickets for the full return journey to Minsk, my constituent’s wife
was arrested at Midi Station and two policemen marched her to a police station. She was placed in a filthy
cell with several people who had been arrested for other crimes. The room had an open toilet and human
excrement was smeared on the walls. After more than two hours she was taken out and shouted at in
French, of which she cannot speak a word. One policeman (tall, slim, with red hair)
insulted her
nationality, laughed at her passport and called her an insulting word in front of his sniggering colleague.
She was in tears and terrified. She asked to make a phone call and this was refused. She asked for an
interpreter and a lawyer and this was refused. She was ordered to sign a document in Dutch which she did
not understand, being told she could either sign or stay in the filthy cell. She was escorted back to a
Eurostar train and held in its security room until she reached London.

My constituent’s wife was wrong not to have a transit visa. But was this a correct way to treat her?

Reply

(8 May 2003)

The Council is not in a position to comment on personal reports about the way in which individuals are
treated by the authorities of the Member States acting in the exercise of powers which fall entirely within
the system of competence and under the responsibility of the Member States.