WRITTEN QUESTION E-2665/03 by Daniel Hannan (PPE-DE) to the Commission. European citizenship financing.
Date: 2003-09-10
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Movement, European citizenship, European integration, action programme, budget, economic and social cohesion, promotion of the European idea, social movement, support policy

C 84 E/34

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.4.2004

(2004/C 84 E/0037)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2665/03

by Daniel Hannan (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(10 September 2003)

Subject: European citizenship financing

The proposal for a Council Decision establishing a Community action programme to promote active
European citizenship (civic participation) (presented by the Commission) C5-0321/03 lists several means
by which the Commission has been providing financial support for the idea of ‘European citizenship’.

Following the assertions made in this document, will the Commission say:

(cid:1) which ‘European think tanks and organisations advancing the idea of Europe’ it has been financing

under budget heading A-3021;

(cid:1) to which ‘associations and federations of European interest’

it has contributed co-financing under

budget heading A-3024; and

(cid:1) which ‘European think tanks’ have benefited from Commission co-financing under budget heading

A-3026?

Will the Commission also say which organisations are set to receive funding under three headings in Part B
of the budget; which organisations make up the ‘Platform of European Social NGOs’ and how much
co-finance funding each of these organisations will receive under budget headings B3-4105 and B5-803?

Finally: ‘Most of these operations have hitherto been carried out without any legal basis’ (cid:1) What are the
implications for the Commission of carrying out operations ‘without any legal basis’?

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(20 October 2003)

The Commission has provided financial
to organisations actively working for European
cooperation (budget line A-3021), to European Think Tanks researching European integration policy
(budget line A-3026) and to associations and federations of European interest (budget line A-3024). A list
of the organisations benefiting from Community financial support in 2003 is being sent directly to the
Honourable Member and to Parliament’s Secretariat.

support

The list of beneficiaries of
secretariat_general/sgc/info_subv/commun/rap-pe_2002_en.pdf).

these grants

in 2002 can be found in:

(http://europa.eu.int/comm/

In its draft legal basis on European civic participation, the Commission proposes to finance organisations
which received funding under Part B of the budget in order to further promote a sustained dialogue with
civil society organisations on the building of Europe and to contribute to establishing the new form of
governance advocated in the Social Policy Agenda adopted at Nice. This concerns on the one hand non-
governmental organisations (NGOs), associations and federations of European interest or cross-industry
trade unions. On the other hand it focuses on the organisations active in promoting fundamental social
rights and combating and preventing social exclusion and discrimination which are represented in the
Platform of European Social NGOs.

A list of the members of the Platform of European Social NGOs (and funding received under budget
headings B3-4105 and B5-803) is being sent directly to the Honourable Member and to Parliament’s
Secretariat.

In the past, these operations were carried out without any legal basis because, since the appropriations
were entered in Part A of the budget, they were seen as administrative expenditure and therefore did not
require a legal basis. It is the disappearance of Part A as a result of the introduction of the ABB (‘activity-

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Official Journal of the European Union

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based budgeting’) approach that, from 2004, will make it necessary to have a legal basis for operations
which can no longer be regarded as administrative expenditure; until then, a legal basis is not legally
required in order to use these appropriations.

(2004/C 84 E/0038)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2680/03

by Olivier Dupuis (NI) to the Council

(10 September 2003)

Subject: Setting up a United Nations Interim Administration in Chechnya

An ambitious report
(An Agenda for Renewal: US-Russian Relations), published by the Carnegie
Endowment (USA) in 2000, states that ‘there is no solution’ to the conflict in Chechnya, because a
withdrawal of Russian troops, allegedly the only way to stop the war, would be tantamount to victory for
the Chechen radical nationalists and the international mujahedin, a scenario that is ‘not in the United
States’ interests’ and that ‘would be appalling for all the north Caucasian peoples’. In other words, both
President Putin and some pro-democracy think tanks claim that Russia has no choice but to continue its
genocidal war in Chechnya. A withdrawal by Russian troops would, in the view of both parties, be seen as
a victory for Chechen forces and lead to the transformation of Chechnya into a ‘base’ for Chechen
terrorism. There is, however, an alternative to these false alternatives.
nationalists and international
On 15 March 2003, Ilyas Akhmadov, the Chechen Foreign Minister, presented a new peace plan, under
which a United Nations Interim Administration would be set up in Chechnya, a proposal that was sent to
the foreign ministers of the EU Member States and applicant countries, the High Representative for the
Javier Solana, and the Commissioner for external relations,
Common Foreign and Security Policy,
Chris Patten. Moreover, during a programme recently broadcast by the Moscow radio station Echo Moskvy
dealing with the issue of setting up a United Nations Interim Administration in Chechnya, 75 % of those
who expressed their opinion were in favour of Mr Akhmadov’s solution. Although not a scientific poll, it is
a new and undeniably significant indication of the Russian people’s feelings on this subject.

What is the Council’s evaluation of the peace plan put forward by the Chechen Foreign Minister proposing
that a United Nations Interim Administration be set up in Chechnya? Does the Council share the opinion
of President Putin and some think tanks that the only alternative to the ongoing genocidal war would be
the creation in Chechnya of a base for Chechen extremists and international terrorism? Does the Council
not think that a UN Interim Administration, like the one in Kosovo, could establish democracy and the
rule of law in the space of a few years and, as a result, help create a more effective antidote to any
potential drift towards extremism?

Reply

(8 March 2004)

The Council is not aware of the details of the peace plan put forward by the ‘Chechen Foreign Minister’
proposing that a United Nations Interim Administration be set up in Chechnya.

is much concerned by the situation in Chechnya and raises the need for a genuine
The Council
reconciliation regularly when meeting the Russian authorities. The Council believes in a peaceful
settlement of the conflict in Chechnya through the restoration of the rule of law and the full respect of
human rights.

The Council has several times encouraged the Russian authorities, along with international organisations,
to develop and implement a political settlement process in Chechnya.

On 8 October last the Presidency, on behalf of the EU, issued a declaration on the presidential elections in
Chechnya in which it expressed its serious doubts regarding the fairness of the electoral process and the
conditions in which these elections were held.

The Union intends to continue to make known its concerns to the Russian authorities in relation to the
situation in Chechnya.