WRITTEN QUESTION E-0189/04 by Olivier Dupuis (NI) to the Commission. Tunisian regime's repressive measures targeting human rights activists.
Date: 2004-01-29
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU relations, Tunisia, association agreement (EU), human rights, human rights movement, repression

3.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 84 E/543

(cid:1) In Portugal, the Church of Scientology cannot appeal to the Law on Religious Freedom of 2001,
because that law demands that any church must have been established in Portugal for 30 years, and
have been internationally recognised for 60 years.

Is the Commission aware of the facts set out above,

(cid:1) and, if it has considered and assessed them, what conclusions has it reached?

(cid:1) does the Commission believe that the facts set out are incompatible with the TEU, particularly as

regards the respect of fundamental rights demanded by Article 6?

(cid:1) does the Commission believe that the Concordat between Italy and the Holy See is incompatible with
taken ‘all appropriate steps to eliminate the

the TEC, given that

Italy has not

Article 307 of
incompatibilities’?

(cid:1) finally, does the Commission not believe that the instances denounced in the US report violate the

rights guaranteed in Articles 10 and 22 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights?

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(11 March 2004)

As suggested in the report referred to by the Honourable Member, the laws of Member States may, under
certain circumstances, attribute a particular status to certain churches. To the extent of the knowledge of
the Commission this does not constitute an infringement of either national or of EU law. The Commission
draws moreover the attention of the Honourable Member to declaration No 11 annexed to the Treaty of
Amsterdam which states that ‘the EU respects and does not prejudice the status under national law of
churches and religious associations or communities in the Member States’. This provision has now been
taken up by the article I-51 of the draft Constitution submitted by the European Convention to the present
Inter-Governmental Conference (IGC).

(2004/C 84 E/0620)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0189/04

by Olivier Dupuis (NI) to the Commission

(29 January 2004)

Subject: Tunisian regime’s repressive measures targeting human rights activists

According to various sources, since the beginning of January there has been an upsurge in acts of violence
and intimidation against human rights activists by the Tunisian regime. On 3 January, Hammad Ali
Bedoui, a member of the National Council for Liberties in Tunisia (CNLT) was placed under house arrest
despite being in possession of a valid passport and Schengen visa. That same day, a huge deployment of
police officers prevented the General Assembly of the International Association for the Support of Political
Prisoners (AISPP) from taking place. On 5 January, Sihem Bensedrine, a journalist and member of the
CNLT, was brutally attacked as she was returning to her home, which is also the headquarters of the
CNLT. Since the beginning of the year, the building has been subject to heightened, 24-hour surveillance,
which requires the constant presence of five plain-clothes police officers. Furthermore, according to the
Yemeni Consul in Tunisia, the Tunisian authorities exerted extreme pressure on the Yemeni authorities not
to grant visas to Mokhtar Trifi, the president of the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH), Khedija Cherif,
the vice-president of the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women (ATFD) and Alya Cherif Chammari, a
member of the board of Collectif 95 Maghreb Egalité and the Tunisian Centre for the Independence of the
Intergovernmental Conference on
Judicial System, who had been invited to attend the Regional
Democracy, Human Rights and the Role of the International Criminal Court, held in Sanaa from 10 to
12 January 2004. The event was organised, under the aegis of the Presidency of the European Union, by
the Yemeni Government and the NGO ‘No Peace Without Justice’ and sponsored by the Commission, the
governments of Canada, France, Germany,
the United Kingdom and
Switzerland and the UNDP.

the Netherlands,

Ireland,

Italy,

C 84 E/544

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.4.2004

Is the Commission aware of the stepping-up of repressive measures against human rights activists by the
Tunisian authorities? At the recent EU-Tunisia bilateral meeting at the end of September 2003, did the
Commission remind the Tunisian delegation that the EU-Tunisia Association Agreement contains a human
rights clause (Article 2) that stipulates that relations between the parties and the agreement in general are
based on respect for human rights and the rule of law? Does the Commission not believe that the Tunisian
authorities have now shown, with enough force and consistency and for a sufficient length of time, that
they never had any intention of respecting the human rights clause, and does it not believe that it is up to
the EU, therefore, to devise a range of retaliatory measures, which, it seems, would be the only way to
persuade the Tunisian authorities to display a more constructive attitude?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(27 February 2004)

The Tunisian human rights organisations
Commission of the facts stated in his letter, via the international networks to which they belong.

referred to by the Honourable Member

informed the

With regard to the Regional Conference on Democracy and Human Rights held in Sana’a from 10 to
12 January 2004, the Commission remarked on the absence of Tunisian representatives of independent
civil society.

In concert with the Member States, the Commission holds a regular dialogue with the Tunisian authorities
on democracy and human rights.

For example, at the Fourth EU-Tunisia Association Council meeting on 30 September 2003, the EU
reminded Tunisia of the importance it attaches to respect for the fundamental principles and common
values underpinning the EU-Tunisia Association Agreement. The Member of the Commission responsible
for external relations emphasised this, stressing that a more participatory society was essential to the
country’s harmonious development.

The Commission therefore proposed to Tunisia that the implementation of the Association Agreement and
the European neighbourhood policy include a more structured and hence more effective dialogue on
common values.

In addition, financial cooperation increasingly focuses on programmes relating to governance and the rule
of law.

(2004/C 84 E/0621)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0190/04

by Mario Borghezio (NI) to the Commission

(29 January 2004)

Subject: Creating transparency regarding ownership of

the company Italtrend (RE), beneficiary of

consulting contracts from the European Commission worth millions of euro

The European Commission has, since 1999, awarded contracts worth EUR 15 million to a service
company based in Reggio Emilia, Italtrend S.r.L., whose most important associate is Necway Trading Ltd,
based in Dublin at 24 and 26 City Quay, near a tax and commercial consultants’ firm, and which has as
‘director’ Paul Joseph Watson, a resident of Port Saint Mary on the Isle of Man.

Does not the Commission feel that it should seek to obtain a better idea of the true identity of the owners
of Italtrend, a company in which Silvia Prodi, daughter of Quintiliano Prodi, who is the brother of the
President of the Commission Romano Prodi, has an important official role (director’s assistant)?