WRITTEN QUESTION E-0496/03 by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission. Palestine: hatred spreads to football.
Date: 2003-02-21
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU financing, EU relations, Palestine, Palestine question, sporting event

C 84 E/458

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.4.2004

The Honourable Member will recall that during the Doha Ministerial in November 2001, the Member of
the Commission responsible for Trade agreed that the Community would enter into consultations to
examine the claims of Thailand and the Philippines that the Community’s preferential tariff (duty-free) for
imports of canned tuna from the Afriacan, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States was causing undue
impairment. The Member of the Commission also agreed that the Community would enter into mediation
if the consultations failed to produce a mutually satisfactory solution. The Honourable Member will also
recall that the Commission felt it necessary to take this action in order to secure the agreement of Thailand
and the Philippines for a waiver that had been sought by the Community over many months for the
Cotonou Agreement.

In January 2003 the Commission informed the Member States of the mediator’s ‘opinion’ proposing that
the Community should open a non-discriminatory quota of 25 000 tonnes at 12 % tariff
rate.
The Commission carefully examined the proposal and concluded that the quantity and duty rate suggested
by the mediator was fair and reasonable and that it would not have an adverse economic effect on the
Community market. It is worth recalling that 25 000 tonnes represents only 9 % of total imports and
around 4 % of total consumption in the Community of canned tuna in 2001.

The Commission, therefore, intends making a formal proposal to the Council that the mediator’s opinion
should be accepted by the opening of a tariff quota as mentioned above.

(2004/C 84 E/0533)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0496/03

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission

(21 February 2003)

Subject: Palestine: hatred spreads to football

The Palestine National Authority’s daily newspaper Al Hayat Al Jadida recently reported extensively on a
football tournament held in the Palestinian town of Tulkarem (located in the northern part of the West
Bank), partly on account of the fact that the seven teams taking part (all made up of Palestinian youths)
had adopted the names of seven shahid (cid:1) the kamikaze Palestinian martyrs who carry out dynamite
attacks in Israel.

Such a shameful and disgraceful choice of name is only one indication of the widespread approval enjoyed
by the shahid.

Will the Commission answer the following questions:

1. Can it confirm the above report, which appeared in a number of European newspapers?

2. Will it confirm whether or not the sports event in question, which was obviously intended to stir up
further trouble by inciting young people to hatred and encouraging them to exalt false and dangerous
heroes, received Community funding which should instead be used in order to promote social and
other more tangible initiatives intended to facilitate cooperation and possibly bring about a
reconciliation between the two peoples concerned?

3. Does it intend to condemn the event and to call upon the Palestinian Authority to ban any further

events of a similar nature?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(26 March 2003)

The Commission is aware of press reports about a football tournament in Tulkarem referred to in the

1.
question of the Honourable Member.

2.
The Commission can confirm that the soccer tournament in question has not received Community
funding. The Commission is unaware of any involvement or financial support of the Palestinian Authority
in the aforementioned tournament.

3.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 84 E/459

The position of the Commission is clear. It roundly condemns all forms of violence and incitement to
3.
violence. The Union has pointed out the Palestinian Authority’s responsibilities in fighting terrorism and
will continue to press the Palestinian Authority, as the governing body responsible for maintaining law and
order in the Palestinian territories. The Union has also called on the Palestinian Authority and Mr Arafat to
take a clear position against incitement to hatred and violence. In this context the Union has welcomed, as
a positive step, the Palestinian Authority’s commitment in its Reform Action Plan of 25 June 2002
‘to renounce fanaticism in the educational curricula and spread the spirit of democracy, enlightenment and
openness on a wide scale.’ The Union will continue to press the Palestinian Authority in the context of
these commitments.

(2004/C 84 E/0534)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0501/03

by Evelyne Gebhardt (PSE) to the Commission

(21 February 2003)

Subject: European Parliament resolution on the memorandum presented by the Commission to the Council

on income taxation and equal treatment for men and women (A2-0055/85)

In its resolution A2-0055/85 (1) on the Commission memorandum on income taxation and equal
treatment for men and women (2), the European Parliament refers to the fact that the national income
taxation systems often hinder a woman’s career and put married women in a less favourable tax position
than unmarried women.

The European Parliament also states that one of the ways in which the goal of tax equality for men and
women should be achieved is by means of measures put forward by the Commission. The memorandum,
however, makes no mention of this kind of initiative.

The resolution also makes reference to Action 6 of
the Commission’s ‘Action Programme on the
promotion of equal opportunities for women’, which provides for an analysis of the national taxation
systems and for related measures.

An analysis of this kind is extremely desirable, especially as a review of the tax benefit systems in view of
reducing disincentives for women forms one of the objectives of the Community Framework Strategy on
Gender Equality (2001-2005).

Does the Commission now have the results of this analysis? Can the Commission make these results
available? Have measures aimed at tax equality for men and women already been introduced?

(1) OJ C 229, 9.9.1985, p. 128.
(2) COM(84) 695.

Answer given by Ms Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(14 April 2003)

The Commission would point out to the Honourable Member that direct taxation is, in principle, an area
that comes under the responsibility of the Member States. However, Member States must exercise this
responsibility consistently with Community law (1).

The principle of equal treatment for men and women is definitely one of the fundamental principles of
Community law,
implying that the Member States must comply with this principle in their taxation
legislation concerning income from employment, among other things.