WRITTEN QUESTION P-1973/03 by Anna Karamanou (PSE) to the Commission. Violation by FYROM of the rights of Roma.
Date: 2003-06-05
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: North Macedonia, Roma, aid to refugees, association agreement (EU), cooperation policy, living conditions, the EU's international role

C 51 E/170

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

26.2.2004

(2004/C 51 E/190)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1973/03

by Anna Karamanou (PSE) to the Commission

(5 June 2003)

Subject: Violation by FYROM of the rights of Roma

According to an announcement made by ‘Doctors of the World’, some 600 Roma at the border between
FYROM and Greece, close to the border crossing at Medzitlia (among them 270 children, ten pregnant
women and numerous elderly people) are suffering flagrant violation of their human rights. The refugees
have been living in the open with no tents or any other form of protection against the sun and rain, with
no basic sanitary facilities, since last March when the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and FYROM’s
Labour Ministry banned their encampment and cut off supplies of food, water and power. On 22 May, the
FYROM security forces forcibly removed the refugees from the borders, while the Roma do not have travel
documents and are totally dependent on the authorities.

What steps will the Commission take, in the context of the EU-FYROM Association Agreement, to ensure
respect for human rights and re-establish decent living conditions for the Roma at Medzitlia?

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(3 July 2003)

The Commission is closely following developments in the situation of over 600 Roma gathered at the
border of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Greece near the Medzitlija border
post,
the Commission delegation in Skopje. Three Roma
representatives were received at the delegation office on 30 May 2003 and delegation staff also visited
the encampment near the border.

including the continued involvement of

On the basis of the latest information available, the persons in the group are receiving basic humanitarian
aid in the form of food, sanitary facilities and medical care from the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and various non-
governmental organisations (including the Macedonian Red Cross, the International Federation of Red
Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)/International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Swiss Red
Cross (SRC), Caritas, Cooperazione Italiana, etc.).

The international community (representatives of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), the
European Union, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Council of Europe,
UNHCR, IOM, etc.) have also been mobilised and are assisting the FYROM Government and the persons
concerned to find solutions. These persons are part of a group which fled from Kosovo in 1999 and was
granted precarious temporary status in FYROM, renewable every six months, with little in the way of
social rights. Most of them resided formerly in the Suto Orizari collective centre opened in 1999 and
closed by the UNHCR in April 2003 because of its seriously dilapidated state. The most vulnerable (around
150) were offered accommodation in a second collective centre for Roma at Katlanavo, and private
accommodation together with basic financial assistance was planned for the remainder of the group. These
options were turned down by the persons concerned who chose to protest against their living conditions
at the above border post (and requested access to countries in the Union).

The Commission’s position has always been that the conditions governing residence status and social rights
for these persons, who have now been in FYROM for four years, should be improved. For that reason, in
cooperation with the UNHCR, it has supported revision of the FYROM law on asylum, which should lead
to entry into force of the new law in September 2003, providing for a fair asylum procedure, better
reception conditions for asylum seekers, respect for the principle of non-refoulement and local integration
measures for those granted protection. The Commission is pleased to note that the FYROM Government is
prepared to anticipate application of this law and allow those concerned to submit applications for asylum
and have then examined.

26.2.2004

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Official Journal of the European Union

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Under the national CARDS programme, a project endowed with EUR 2 million has been set up to help the
FYROM Government review its legislation on asylum and launch a national action programme on matters
of asylum, migration and visas, together with a training programme. EUR 1 million has been earmarked in
2003 to continue the 2002 programme. The European Agency for Reconstruction is studying the ways of
continuing the programme and of defining the content in more detail.

The Commission consequently endorses the Declaration of 3 June 2003 by the Union Heads of Mission in
Skopje, who stressed that they had given most serious consideration to the steps taken by the Kosovar
Roma in Medzitlija to improve their situation and strongly encouraged them to accept the offer made by
the FYROM Government to leave the border area and return to Skopje.

Moreover, the Commission is also continuing to support the efforts of the international community to put
in place appropriate conditions for the voluntary return to Kosovo of the persons displaced in 1999,
including those of Roma origin.

(2004/C 51 E/191)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1975/03

by Anna Karamanou (PSE) to the Commission

(13 June 2003)

Subject: Are commonly available antidepressants bad for the health?

Following many reports of suicide and serious withdrawal symptoms in general among users of commonly
available antidepressants including Prozac, the British Government ordered an inquiry by its Committee on
Safety of Medicines. It appears that serious withdrawal symptoms are in fact very frequent with users often
needing months to overcome their dependency and that in certain cases this leads to suicide.

What steps will the Commission take with a view to elucidating fully this extremely serious matter? Will it
launch large-scale investigations at European level so as to establish the degree of dependency possibly
resulting from the long-term use of antidepressants?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(1 August 2003)

The United Kingdom Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)
informed the
Commission that new data from clinical trials of paroxetine (Seroxat) in children and adolescents were
received at the end of May 2003. These new data have been reviewed by an Expert Working Group on
SSRIs (selective inhibitor of serotonin reuptake) and the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) of the
United Kingdom. The data do not demonstrate efficacy in depressive illness in this age group and show an
increase in the risk of episodes of self-harm and potentially suicidal behaviour in the Seroxat group
compared to placebo. Various analyses suggest that the risk of these events is between 1,5 and 3,2 times
greater with Seroxat compared to placebo.

On the basis of these data, CSM has advised that Seroxat should not be used in children and adolescents
under the age of 18 years to treat depressive illness. Seroxat is not licensed for use in this population
under 18 but it is used in this age group outside its licensed indications where prescribers make a
judgement on their own responsibility that it is the right treatment for a particular patient.