WRITTEN QUESTION E-0105/97 by Nikitas Kaklamanis (UPE) to the Commission (29 January 1997)

Subject: EU funding for the ECMI

Germany and Denmark jointly set up the European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) in Flensburg, Germany. The Centre monitors the situation of national minorities and other indigenous population groups throughout Europe.

Dr Stefan Troebst was appointed director of the ECMI. He is an historian and reader in Eastern European history at the Free University of Berlin. Mr Troebst has on occasion (most recently in the 'Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung' of 31 July 1996) expressed views on the alleged existence of an Albanian minority in Greece, and he has emerged as an advocate of the annexation of Kosovo to Albania.

His inflammatory remarks on 'Macedonian and Greek nationalism' in the same newspaper raise legitimate questions about the ECMI's entire activities.

This is a very serious matter, and there are reports that a generous subsidy is going to paid to the ECMI under the EU's Interreg programme. The ECMI has already received money from the EU for its establishment.

1. Is the Commission acquainted with the character and the activities of the director of the ECMI, Mr Troebst, who, during the inauguration of the ECMI (on 4 December 1996), went so far as to state that 'if the Pomaks in Greece or Bulgaria were to organize an ethnic movement and demand an independent State, that would be a difficult, but in certain cases, pressing matter'?

2. Has the ECMI - a 'Centre' whose activities could turn out to be a time-bomb for the Balkans as well as other regions of the EU - received funding, or are there plans to fund it, under any EU programme?

3. Is the ECMI directly or indirectly related to any of the EU institutions? If not, should it not be made clear to the Centre that, with its title and with the official involvement of two EU Member States, it is tarnishing the image of the EU, which badly needs a genuinely independent body to monitor minorities and not a 'Centre' with ambiguous and suspicious aims.

Supplementary answer given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission (18 July 1997)

The Commission would refer the Honourable Member to its answer to his Written Question E-1416/97 ((OJ C 21, 22.1.1998, p. 53. )).