WRITTEN QUESTION P-0215/03 by Marco Cappato (NI) to the Commission. Drug-related escalation of violence in Bolivia.
Date: 2003-01-27
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Bolivia, alternative agricultural production, cooperation policy, customs and traditions, drug traffic, fight against crime, indigenous population, international convention, narcotic, political unrest

C 88 E/318

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

8.4.2004

These fees shall be increased by 5 % as from the fourth twelve-month period of application of the Protocol.

As an alternative to the compulsory landing at market prices provided for under point 4,
supplementary fees for ship owners opting not to land fish shall be as follows:

the

(cid:1) EUR 7/GRT for three-month licences,

(cid:1) EUR 14/GRT for six-month licences,

(cid:1) EUR 23/GRT for annual licences.

(2004/C 88 E/0323)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0215/03

by Marco Cappato (NI) to the Commission

(27 January 2003)

Subject: Drug-related escalation of violence in Bolivia

The situation in Bolivia vis-à-vis the demonstrations by indigenous groups that advocate the use of
traditional produce such as coca leaf (cid:1) currently strictly regulated by the Bolivian Government (cid:1) should
become of particular concern to the international community. In fact, over the last few days in Bolivia
there has been a series of clashes between the police and army and the protesters, mainly farmers, who
were demonstrating against the eradication of their traditional crop. According to Bolivian media outlets
the situation is characterised by an escalation of violence that has led to at least 17 deaths, dozens
wounded and hundreds arrested.

Is the Commission aware of the nature of such an escalation in the confrontation between the Government
and indigenous groups on the eradication of coca, and what measures is the Commission enforcing or
does it intend to enforce in its support to the Bolivian authorities in their crop eradication activities?

Does the Commission not believe that
the time has come to address the failures, and disastrous
consequences, that prohibition is provoking in producer and consumer countries alike and initiate at the
upcoming ministerial segment of the UN Commission on Narcotics, scheduled for 16 and 17 April 2003,
a process of revision of the three international Conventions on Narcotic and Psychotropic Substances in
order to promote a more effective pragmatic approach to the drug question?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(24 February 2003)

The Commission has been monitoring closely the escalation in the confrontation between the Government
of Bolivia and coca producers and other social sectors and noted with concern the incidents of violence
associated with the road blocks which have been erected since 13 January 2003. The Commission is
pleased to note that an agreement reached between Evo Morales and President Sánchez de Lozada on
26 January 2003 appears to have scaled down the confrontation and enabled the two sides to engage in a
dialogue, including on the Government’s coca eradication policy and drug control enforcement practices.

On the basis of the principle of co-responsibility,
the Commission has been supporting alternative
development projects in Bolivia in line with the priorities for cooperation identified in its Country Strategy
Paper. Three projects worth a total of EUR 30 million are currently underway with a fourth for
EUR 13 million likely to be approved during 2003.

The approach adopted by the Commission starts from the fact that most of the people working in illegal
coca plantations have left behind, temporary or permanently, poor living conditions and depressed local
economies in the mining communities of the western Highlands and the high valleys of the Cochabamba
region. Since the income which can be generated by growing coca is much higher than that which can be
earned by working in the mining areas or by growing legal crops, it is essential to give farmers access to
viable alternative sources of income.

8.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 88 E/319

The Commission is funding and plans to fund activities in the coca-producing areas of Chapare and Los
Yungas which will create sustainable agricultural and other income-generating activities to encourage coca
producers to give up growing coca. It is also providing local infrastructure such as health centres and
schools. The Commission is also seeking to improve living conditions and support economic development
in the labour-expulsion zones of the Highlands to reduce the pressures of extreme poverty which stimulate
the migration of workers to the coca-producing areas. The Commission works with local authorities and
has a dialogue with coca farmers, and its projects seen well received by the population.

The Commission is an active Permanent Observer of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs
(CND), where it has defended a balanced approach between prevention and treatment and the fight against
production and trafficking. Alternative development projects are an illustration of the latter by providing
alternative livelihoods, they seek to decrease the dependence of farmers on drug cultivation.

There are no plans for the next session of the CND to engage in a process of revising the three United
Nations Conventions. This matter has not been raised by Member States nor by the Commission in the
periodic discussions of Union drug policy.

(2004/C 88 E/0324)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0226/03

by Guido Podestà (PPE-DE)
and Amalia Sartori (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(3 February 2003)

Subject: Regulatory obstacles to intra-Community trade in gold products (cid:1) breach of Article 28 of the EC

Treaty

It is now almost 50 years since the entry into force of the EC Treaty and the related provisions establishing
a common market and yet many regulatory obstacles still exist and are preventing the free movement
within the EU of gold products legally hallmarked and marketed in a Member State.

This applies, in particular, to Italian gold products which, although manufactured, legally hallmarked and
marketed in Italy, find it difficult to move from Italy to some other Member State of the EU because of the
legislation and regulatory obstacles in force, particularly in France, Ireland and the United Kingdom.

It is now consistently established by Community case law that any trade regulations enacted by Member
States which may actually or potentially impede intra-Community trade directly or indirectly are regarded
as measures with an effect equivalent to quantitative restrictions and hence a breach of Article 28 of the EC
Treaty.

Despite recent complaints (cid:1) some of which are still pending (cid:1) and despite the seriousness of the
violations established, which erode a freedom, that of the free movement of goods, which is crucial for the
Community, the Commission does not appear to have paid the necessary attention to this issue so far.

1.
In the light of the situation described above, can the Commission say how it intends finally to put an
end to any impediments or obstacles to free movement between Member States, within the common
market, of gold products legally manufactured, hallmarked and marketed in a Member State?

Can the Commission explain why, despite repeated reports, it has so far failed to intervene with

2.
sufficient rigour to put an end to the breaches described above?