WRITTEN QUESTION E-0007/04 by Philip Claeys (NI) to the Commission. Accession of Cyprus, official languages.
Date: 2004-01-16
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Cyprus, Türkiye, accession to the European Union, international issue, national unification

C 88 E/676

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

8.4.2004

‘No support

is to be given under this Regulation to incentives to encourage sterilisation or
that:
abortion …’. This line is in keeping with the Programme of Action adopted at the International Conference
on Population and Development in Cairo 1994, on which Community policy is based.

(1) OJ L 224, 6.9.2003.

(2004/C 88 E/0694)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0007/04

by Philip Claeys (NI) to the Commission

(16 January 2004)

Subject: Accession of Cyprus, official languages

Cyprus has two official languages, Greek and Turkish. The Constitution also says that one of the two Vice-
Presidents must be a Turkish Cypriot. Because of the Turkish occupation of the northern part of the island,
however, these constitutional provisions are not in force. In the current circumstances, recognition of
Turkish as an official language in the European Union could be interpreted as implicit recognition of the
Turkish occupation of the northern part of Cyprus.

Might the accession of Cyprus on 1 May 2004 (cid:1) if there is no change in the institutional and political
situation (cid:1) nonetheless mean that the Turkish will become an official language of the European Union? If
so, on the basis of what arguments does the Commission arrive at this view?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(1 March 2004)

According to the Treaty of Accession 2003 Turkish is not an official language of the European Union,
since no such request had been made.

Following a political settlement of the Cyprus problem and a re-unification of the island, the United
Cyprus Republic is entitled to request that Turkish is recognised as an official Community language. The
Council would then have to amend Regulations no. 1/1958/EEC and 1/1958/Euratom determining the
languages to be used by the two Communities (1). The legal base for this adaptation and the modalities
related to it would be Article 4 of Protocol No 10 of the Act of Accession, which stipulates that the
Council shall decide, in the event of a settlement, on the adaptations to the terms concerning the accession
of Cyprus with regard to the Turkish Cypriot Community.

It should be noted that the Commission decided in 1999 to dedicate EUR 3 million for the translation of
the ‘acquis’ into Turkish in order to prepare and facilitate the process of bringing the northern part of
Cyprus closer to the European Union.

(1) OJ B 17, 6.10.1958.

(2004/C 88 E/0695)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0032/04

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(20 January 2004)

Subject: Long-term stateless-person status of one category of permanent residents of the three future EU

Member States that were internal states of the Soviet Union until 1991

1.
Can the Commission confirm that when Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania came into being as
independent states in 1991, not all of their permanently domiciled residents were enabled in good time
to exchange the nationality of the then defunct Soviet Union for that of their new state, so that such
persons became stateless?