Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-11-14-Speech-3-273"
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"en.20011114.11.3-273"2
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".
Mr President, as it has indicated in previous answers on the same subject, the Council fully shares your concerns regarding the humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan.
At its session on 8 and 9 October 2001, the Council reaffirmed that the European Union and its Member States are doing everything possible in order to avoid a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and in the neighbouring countries, which must be organised in close collaboration with the HCR and other specialised agencies, the International Red Cross Committee, the United States, neighbouring countries and other partners from multinational organisations.
On this occasion, the Council reiterated that, faced with the humanitarian crisis, the Community and its Member States have already released EUR 316 million. The Council warmly welcomed the first steps taken by the Commission to assist refugees and has invited the Commission to present further measures as soon as possible. In this respect, I would like to stress that the reserve for urgent aid, which amounts to EUR 25 million, to be used for humanitarian aid to help the Afghan people, was already approved at a budgetary tripartite meeting on 15 October. Furthermore, the Council restated the European Union’s determination to support, when required, a political process launched in Afghanistan, with the support of the United Nations, and to contribute to the reconstruction, modernisation, development and opening up of the country. Current events confirm the need for us to work towards this.
The Council is in favour of opening humanitarian corridors but it stresses that this requires the cooperation of the forces in control of the situation on the ground. In this context, the Council deeply regrets that the Taliban regime has, on several occasions, obstructed the delivery of humanitarian aid, harassed NGOs, destroyed humanitarian buildings, refused to cooperate with international institutions and, very recently, demanded that convoys, trying to deliver humanitarian aid to the needy Afghan people, pay road tolls.
Given the current situation in Afghanistan, it is obviously difficult to ensure that any measure can be totally efficient. However, you will no doubt be aware that the European Union, whilst fully supportive of the efforts undertaken to eradicate terrorism in the wake of the attacks of 11 September, is taking an active part in the humanitarian operation designed to assist the displaced people in the region. The position of the Council, when faced with such situations, has always been to work to keep displaced populations within the neighbouring regions, in order to facilitate their return, as soon as circumstances allow. I would reiterate that, on 20 July 2001, the Council adopted a directive on the temporary protection, on the territory of Member States, of displaced persons in the event of a massive influx.
Since this directive will not be applied until December 2002, the Commission stated, at the Council meeting of 27 and 28 September, that it was willing to investigate how the rules specified under this directive could be applied, if necessary, before this date. From this perspective, the Commission has recently requested Member States to provide, on a fortnightly basis to Eurostat, statistical data on asylum requests and illegal entries of Afghan citizens.
The Council does not have any information on the conditions in reception centres. And, in relation to this, I would like to say that the Council bodies are currently examining a proposal for a directive to set minimum standards for conditions in reception centres for asylum seekers in the Member States.
Lastly, with regard to relations with Turkey, I reiterate that regular meetings take place between the Council bodies and Turkey, as part of the implementation of the action plan for Iraq drawn up by the High Level Asylum and Immigration Group, as I also explained in answer to a previous question. The next meeting is most likely to take place towards the end of November."@en1
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