WRITTEN QUESTION P-0353/03 by Marco Cappato (NI) to the Council. Statement by the Italian Minister for Health on EU Member States guilty of crimes against humanity.
Date: 2003-02-06
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Union membership, Italy, bio-ethics, cloning, crime against humanity, eugenics, intra-EU relations, press release

18.9.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 222 E/187

Reply

(13 May 2003)

The Council can confirm to the Honourable Parliamentarian, that the decision of the 7 EU Member States
to abstain from the vote on 20 January 2003 was the result of a common position of the European Union
adopted within the framework of the CFSP.

Whether Mrs al-Hajjaji’s appointment will enhance the credibility of the UN system very much depends on
how she conducts the work of the UNCHR during CHR 59. From her previous track record in the CHR,
there is every reason to hope that Mrs al-Hajjaji will carry out her duties in chairing CHR 59 with all the
competence and professionalism required.

(2003/C 222 E/213)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0353/03

by Marco Cappato (NI) to the Council

(6 February 2003)

Subject: Statement by the Italian Minister for Health on EU Member States ‘guilty of crimes against

humanity’

Girolamo Sirchia, the Italian Minister for Health, stated publicly at the official opening of the High
Technology Centre for Biomedical Sciences at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Campobasso on
28 November 2002 (as reported by all the news agencies that day) that reproductive cloning was without
doubt a crime against humanity and that laws should be passed qualifying it as such. He also said that
therapeutic cloning was no better than reproductive cloning because it did not differ substantially from it
and that the two could only be differentiated on a philosophical level (AGI news agency, 28 November
2002). On the same occasion, the Minister stated that he viewed both reproductive and therapeutic
cloning as crimes on a par with slavery, child abuse and the atrocities committed by the Nazis (ANSA
news agency, 28 November 2002).

What is the Council’s reaction to the fact that the Minister for Health of an EU Member State has indirectly
accused other Member States that authorise and practice therapeutic cloning in the hope of curing and
extending the life of millions of sick people in Europe of besmirching themselves with crimes against
humanity?

Should the Council not ask the Italian government, especially with an eye to Italy’s presidency of the EU
Council, to clarify a statement accusing Member States of the same types of crime committed in Nazi
Germany, in order to establish whether this stance represents the Italian government’s official line?

Reply

(13 May 2003)

It is not the Council’s intention to comment on public statements by the Minister for Health in the Italian
Government.

(2003/C 222 E/214)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0367/03

by Luciano Caveri (ELDR) to the Commission

(12 February 2003)

Subject: Electromagnetic pollution

There have been a series of studies on the phenomenon known as ‘electromagnetic pollution’ or
‘electrosmog’. Can the Commission say what its latest views are on the subject and whether there are any
legislative implications?