WRITTEN QUESTION P-3894/03 by Ian Hudghton (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. Objective One status — Highlands and Islands of Scotland.
Date: 2003-12-10
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Scotland, Structural Funds, data collection, eligible region, regional aid

27.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 78 E/669

(2004/C 78 E/0711)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3893/03

by Chris Davies (ELDR) to the Commission

(10 December 2003)

Subject: Health warnings on cigarette packs

The Commission is currently preparing a library file of illustrations and graphic warnings intended to be
used to complement written health warnings on cigarette packs while conforming to the requirements of
the single market.

When does the Commission now expect this work to be complete, and from what date will those Member
States that wish to require tobacco manufacturers to print such visual warnings on cigarette packs be able
to do so?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(19 January 2004)

The Commission expects the work on the library of colour photographs, or other illustrations intended to
be used to complement written health warnings on cigarette packets, to be completed by 30 September
2004. The library will be at the disposal of the Member States after this time.

(2004/C 78 E/0712)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3894/03

by Ian Hudghton (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(10 December 2003)

Subject: Objective One status (cid:1) Highlands and Islands of Scotland

With reference to Oral Question and Answer H-0809/02 (1), has the Commission been informed by the UK
Office of National Statistics, or by the UK Government, that the data compiled in preparation for the 1999
funding bid for Objective One status for the Scottish Highlands and Islands may have been inaccurate?

What is the view of the Commission should the data prove to have been inaccurate?

What is the view of the Commission on the interpretation of Regulation 1260/1999 (2) should data used in
the consideration of eligibility for Objective One funding prove to have been inaccurate, as opposed to
unavailable, at the requisite time?

Is the Commission aware of any Community law provision which would prevent a Member State
Government from compensating a region of that state for the loss of Objective One funding, should the
Member State Government have submitted a defective funding bid?

(1) Written answer of 17.12.2002.
(2) OJ L 161, 26.6.1999, p. 1.

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(22 January 2004)

The Commission confirms that it has received no communication from the Office for National Statistics
(ONS) or the United Kingdom Government on the accuracy of data relating to the Highlands and Islands.

C 78 E/670

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

27.3.2004

On the question of the possible revision of the list of areas eligible under Objective 1, the Commission
refers the Honourable Member to the response it gave to his oral question H-0809/02 (1) during
Parliament’s plenary session of December II 2002.

(1) Written answer of 17.12.2002.

(2004/C 78 E/0713)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3899/03

by Olivier Dupuis (NI) to the Commission

(17 December 2003)

Subject: Meeting of EU-Lao PDR Joint Committee

Article 14 of the Cooperation Agreement between the EU and Laos states that ‘the Joint Committee […]
shall normally meet every other year, alternately in Vientiane and in Brussels, on a date fixed by mutual
agreement. Extraordinary meetings may also be convened by agreement between the Parties’. However,
according to well-informed sources, in spite of this rule the meeting which should have been planned for
last November apparently did not take place, because at least one of the two parties did not believe there
were any important or urgent issues to discuss.

Does the Commission not believe that there are certain issues which are sufficiently important and urgent
to warrant a meeting of the Joint Committee being held? Such issues include the ‘enforced disappearances’
of the regime’s opponents, such as the five student leaders of the 26 October 1999 Movement, the fact
that Mr Latsamy Khamphoui, a former minister of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), has
now been in prison for over 13 years, and that Mr Feng Sackchittaphong, a former senior civil servant at
the Ministry of Justice, is being held in the forced labour camp ‘Number 7’ for having published an open
letter criticising the highest Laotian authorities, the cruel repression of the Hmong people and the
Christian communities in Laos, the arrest and sentencing this summer of two European journalists, a Lao-
American interpreter and three Laotians during a show trial, the generalised corruption, the failure to
reform a judicial system which is entirely under the control of the single ruling party, the widespread
practice of torture, the involvement of high-ranking dignitaries of the regime in all kinds of illegal
trafficking (precious woods, drugs, precious stones etc.) and, more generally, the denial of freedom of
speech, freedom of association, freedom of religion and other fundamental freedoms, which are the
principles upon which the EU-Laos Cooperation Agreement is based. Furthermore, does the Commission
not believe that in its relations with the Lao PDR the EU should place a great deal more emphasis on issues
such as those mentioned above, on which the European Parliament has given its opinion on several
occasions?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(30 January 2004)

The 3rd Commission-Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) Joint Committee Meeting was held in
Vientiane, Laos, on 7 January 2004. The slight delay in the holding of the Joint Committee was purely due
to scheduling difficulties.

In addition to discussions on a variety of issues falling under the scope of the Cooperation Agreement,
including governance and human rights, both Parties agreed to set up an Informal Working Group on
‘Cooperation in the areas of institution building and administrative reform, governance and human rights’.
Meeting regularly, the working group will allow the Commission and the government of Lao PDR to
demonstrate their commitment to implementing the Human Rights chapter of the Commission-Lao PDR
Cooperation Agreement in a more proactive way.