WRITTEN QUESTION E-2419/03 by Lucio Manisco (GUE/NGL) to the Council. Al Sahri deported by Italy and executed in Syria.
Date: 2003-07-21
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Italy, Syria, death penalty, extradition, human rights, political asylum, private international law

C 84 E/20

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.4.2004

Directorates-General for the Budget and for Health and Consumer Protection and from DG-AGRI (Units
for tobacco, Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) and Evaluation). The assignment procedure was
given a favourable opinion by the Advisory Committee on Procurements and Contracts and by DG Budget
before the contract was signed.

The contract was assigned to COGEA, which proposed a total of 455 working days and a total cost of
EUR 310 250. For more detailed information the Honourable Member is asked to refer to the contract
award notice published in Official Journal of the European Union S 89 of 8 May 2002 under the number
69716-2002 (1).

The Tobacco Assessment Steering Group consists of representatives from various Commission Direc-
torates-General: Budget (CAP and Evaluation Units), Competition, Economic and Financial Affairs, Health
and Consumer Protection and lastly Agriculture with representatives from the following Units: Specialised
Crops (manager of tobacco CMO), Studies and Overall Approach, FADN, Budget, Audit and Control,
Evaluation. The group is chaired and its secretariat provided by DG AGRI’s Evaluation Unit, which forms
part of a support service Directorate that is independent of the market management Units. Steering groups
bring together the people who have to deal with the various aspects of a dossier, each contributing his or
her own expertise and observations to its work. The Unit responsible for managing the tobacco CMO was
given representation on the steering group because of its technical knowledge of the dossier and the
market data that it could supply for analytical purposes. It was however in a minority in the steering
group. Group diversity allows a multiplicity of opinions to be voiced and promotes independence on the
contractor’s part. The group does not necessarily share the opinions put forward by the consultant and the
assessment report cannot be held to reflect any views other than those of its author.

further

information on steering methods

For
Honourable Member is referred to the guide published at:
guide/cmo_en.pdf).

for DG AGRI market

the
(http://europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/eval/

assessment

studies

As mentioned above the December report was not accepted by the steering group, which asked for a
number of additional analyses. The final version received on 1 July was officially accepted on 25 July.
As soon as the internal registration and circulation procedures are completed Parliament will receive a
copy. The steering group will also be asking for the report to be published on the Internet. It should be
available this month.

Accordingly there no longer appears to be any point
in transmitting the steering group’s internal
documents and an incomplete version of the report, which would make no contribution to the clarity of
discussion.

(1) Website http://ted.publications.eu.int

(2004/C 84 E/0022)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2419/03

by Lucio Manisco (GUE/NGL) to the Council

(21 July 2003)

Subject: Al Sahri deported by Italy and executed in Syria

On 23 November 2002 Mohamad Al Sahri, sentenced to death by the Syrian judiciary and in exile since
1983, arrived at the Milan airport of Malpensa and five days later the new Bossi-Fini law was carried out
and he was deported to Syria against his will. On 9 July 2003 Christopher Hein, chairman of the Italian
council for refugees, announced that Mr Al Shari had been executed in Syria on 28 February 2003.
Defying credibility, Italian immigration authorities have stated that Mr Al Sahri, asked to choose between
Jordan and Syria for his deportation, indicated his preference for the latter where he had been sentenced to
death.

Does the Council believe that the Italian government violated in this case not only its own national
Constitution, but Article 19 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the spirit and the letter of all the
directives followed by the EU on political asylum and against deporting foreign citizens to countries where
they might be put to death?

What measures does the Council intend to take against the Italian authorities for such a blatant violation
of human rights and of the most basic legal and humanitarian principles of the European Union?

3.4.2004

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 84 E/21

Reply

(8 March 2004)

The Honourable Member is referred to the joint reply given by the Council to Questions P-3822/02
and E-3843/02. Furthermore, the Council would remind the Honourable Member that it cannot intervene
in actual asylum application cases in the Member States.

The Council can, however, inform the Honourable Member that in the light of the latest information
available to it, Mr Al Sahri was released conditionally on 13 October this year.

(2004/C 84 E/0023)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2433/03

by Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(22 July 2003)

Subject: Quota for sugar production in the autonomous region of the Azores

The Azorean agricultural company Sinaga SA, which produces beet sugar in the outermost region of the
Azores, is experiencing problems owing to the growing difficulties being encountered with the reduction
in the production quota being made at administrative level. The Treaty concerning Portugal’s accession to
the European Union set sugar production for the Azores at 20 000 tonnes (quotas A + B), for either a beet
processing undertaking or a refinery, stipulating that the remaining amount would be ‘up to a quantity
limit expressed in white sugar equal to the difference between the actual production achieved within the
framework of quotas A and B and 20 000 tonnes’.

However, the Azores were removed from this scheme under Council Regulation (EC) No 1101/95 (1), when
they lost the right to process 20 000 tonnes of sugar and instead produced only 10 000 tonnes. Now,
according to Sinaga, the Commission is again seeking by administrative means to reduce the refining of
white sugar, which is to be set at 6 500 tonnes/year in the autonomous region of the Azores, even though
the production of sugar from beet is not sufficient to reach the limit of 10 000 tonnes of white sugar, as
defined under Poseima, a situation which would threaten the company’s viability. It might also be pointed
out that Sinaga purchases raw sugar from Germany (C quota sugar).

The Commission:

1. What measures will it take to guarantee Sinaga’s continuing operation, given its importance for the

development of the outermost region of the Azores?

2. Will recognition be given to the right of the autonomous region of the Azores to produce white sugar
up to an amount of 10 000 tonnes/year, under the conditions laid down under Poseima, and will it
therefore be authorised to import a further 2 500 tonnes of raw sugar this year, given that beet
production will amount to only around 1 000 tonnes?

3. Will it be possible for the autonomous region of the Azores to sell its production on traditional

markets, i.e. to export around 4 000 tonnes of white sugar?

(1) OJ L 110, 17.5.1995, p. 1.

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(17 September 2003)

The Commission takes the view that

for the
1.
agricultural economy of the Azores. Beet production is traditional in the Azores and the existence of beet
processing facilities is a requirement for it to be marketed.

the sugar industry is important

the survival of

Recognising this, the Commission, whether by taking action on its own or proposing specific measures to
the Council, has acted to ensure the continued existence of beet and sugar production in the Azores.