WRITTEN QUESTION E-0917/03 by Claude Moraes (PSE) to the Commission. HIV/AIDS in South Africa.
Date: 2003-03-24
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: AIDS, EU aid, South Africa, health aid, health policy, motherhood, right to health

C 33 E/90

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

6.2.2004

Can the Commission say:

(cid:1) whether it can confirm these reports?

(cid:1) if so, what it thinks of the measures taken by the Romanian Government?

(cid:1) whether these events might have an impact on the process leading up to Romania’s future accession

to the European Union and, if so, in what way?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(22 April 2003)

Law No 187/99 ‘on individual access to one’s own files and on the disclosure of the Securitate as a
political police’ provided for the establishment of a National Council for the Study of the Securitate
Archives (CNSAS), which is governed by a board of 11 members appointed by the Romanian Parliament.
The board can take decisions by simple majority, but with no less than eight members present. Members
of the board can only be revoked by the Supreme Court. The CNSAS, among its various tasks, has to
ensure the right of individual access to personal files, vet candidates to public offices and publish lists of
persons who were agents or informers of the former secret police. In order to perform these tasks, the
archives of the former secret police have to be made available to the CNSAS but, until they are fully
transferred to the CNSAS premises, they remain under the control of the present information service (SRI).

It appears that since CNSAS was established in 2000, SRI has not handed over all the files requested or has
transmitted allegedly incomplete files. The attitude of SRI has provoked a division within CNSAS, and its
eventual deadlock, with five board members supporting the position of SRI and abstaining from
participating to its activities.

In January 2003 the legal affairs committees of the two houses of Parliament appointed a joint sub-
committee in order to find a solution to the deadlock. The report of the sub-committee, which was
submitted in March, proposes that Parliament revoke all the current members of the board and appoint a
caretaker board composed of the five board members who are at present abstaining.

The Commission has no comment to make on a specific domestic Romanian issue, especially when the
situation is still evolving. However the principles of transparency and access to documents, the observance
of legislation by public bodies and democratic control over police services are all relevant under the
Copenhagen political criteria, which stipulate that membership of
the Union requires ‘stability of
institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights …’. The Commission will make a
global review of Romania’s progress towards accession in the light of the Copenhagen criteria in its
Regular Report which it will adopt and publish in Autumn 2003.

(2004/C 33 E/086)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0917/03

by Claude Moraes (PSE) to the Commission

(24 March 2003)

Subject: HIV/AIDS in South Africa

In its development aid to South Africa, what view is the Commission taking on the actions of the South
African Government on their provision of anti-retroviral
the drug
Nevirapine to pregnant women across South African provinces?

therapies and the provision of

6.2.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 33 E/91

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(16 April 2003)

The Commission takes the view that it is for the South African Government to determine its policy in this
field, but it has on more than one occasion voiced serious concern over the ambiguous approach taken in
the past
in relation to the fight against human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency
syndrome (HIV/AIDS).

The Commission notes that the South-African Government has clarified its policy in recent months and
has earmarked significant resources for it in the 2003-2004 budget. It strongly supports the government’s
new position allowing for treatment of mother-to-child transmission and on anti-retroviral therapy for
victims of rape and notes the considerable progress (albeit not universal) that has been made in this regard.
The Commission hopes that the South-African Government will make further progress in developing a
comprehensive HIV/AIDS treatment policy and will begin a phased approach towards the provision of
anti-retroviral medicines.

However, one must realise that the problem is very complex. It is estimated that approximately 7 million
people in South Africa are HIV-infected. The cost of comprehensive treatment is therefore likely to be
enormous. The Commission Delegation in Pretoria is currently assisting the South African Department of
Health in working out a realistic estimate of the budgetary implications. It is hoped that detailed figures
will be available in six to eight weeks from now.

At a general policy level the Commission supports the right of people living with HIV/AIDS to have access
to affordable treatments,
including suitable combinations of anti-retroviral drugs, as part of a
comprehensive package of prevention, treatment, care and control for HIV/AIDS.

Under the European Programme for Reconstruction and Development (EPRD), the Commission financially
supports the South-African health care and HIV/AIDS efforts through a number of programmes, including
a recently launched, EUR 25 million, ‘Partnership for the delivery of primary health care, including HIV/
AIDS’. Through its Public Health Sector Support Programme the Commission also funds 6 non-
governmental organisations active in the fight against HIV/AIDS, among them ‘The AIDS Law Project’
(ALP). The ALP is closely associated with the Treatment Action Campaign and both organisations lobby
very strongly for improved access to HIV/AIDS treatment for all South Africans.

The new Community-South Africa country strategy and ‘Multi-annual Indicative programme’, which has
been approved and is ready for signing, identifies the HIV/AIDS pandemic as the major challenge facing
South African society. The programme features HIV/AIDS as both part of a major focal area of
intervention and as a cross-cutting issue.

(2004/C 33 E/087)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0925/03

by Eluned Morgan (PSE) to the Commission

(24 March 2003)

Subject: Via Baltica

Is it true that the Via Baltica will be constructed through sensitive wildlife sites in Poland? Will this road be
receiving any European funding?

What assurances can the Commission give that environmental impact assessment work will be done before
any construction work starts?