The Parliament adopted the report of Mr. Philippe MORILLON (EPP, F) on the Commission's proposal regarding measures to promote economic and social development in Turkey. The Parliament adopted a number of amendments, the most important of which are:
- a reference in the recital to the 1997 Luxembourg Council's confirmation that Turkey was eligible to accede to the EU;
- a reference to the Council's decision on 13/09/1999 allocating funds to Turkey;
- a reference to the need for Turkey to ensure the sound management of public affairs and the closer involvement of civil society in that process;
- reference to a number of resolutions adopted by the Parliament concerning the importance of respect for human rights in Turkey;
- the amount included in this Regulation for the 2000-2002 period shall be regarded as the prime reference for the budgetary authority within the meaning of the Inter-institutional Agreement of 06.05.1999. This reference shall be part of the multiannual financial framework of the MEDA Programme. The financial framework wiull EUR 135 million for the 2000-2002 period.
- the beneficiaries will also include the customs adminsitration;
- a reference whereby if obstacles are placed to the implementation of projects, operations and measures, and particularly to cooperation seeking to defend and promote democracy, the rule of law, human rights and the protection of minorities, the Council, acting by qualified majority on a proposal from the Commission or the European Parliament, may decide to suspend all cooperation under this Regulation;
- funding under this programme would also cover damage caused by the recent earthquakes, cooperation in the field of education and training and the protection, recognition of minorities' cultural identity and support for measuress seeking to abolish capital punishment, any form of cooperation seeking to resolve the Kurdish problem, measures to promote the social dialogue within Turkey and between Turkey and the EU, and the promotion of cooperation between public administrations with a view to the approximation of legislation and the training of staff, including customs officers;
- funding would not cover the development of nuclear power, especially in earthquake zones;
- special provision shall be made by the Commission to reduce the obstacles to small non-profit-making NGOs taking up grants;
- on the basis of Decision 1999/468/EC, the Commission shall be assisted by a management committee composed of representative of the Member States and chaired by a representative of the Commission (in contrast to the MED Committee, in the Commission's original proposal);
- the Commission shall submit an annual report on progress with regard to respect to democratic principles, the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms and international law;
- the specific contents to be covered in the report submittedby the Commission to the EP and the Council.
The request of Mr. Pedro MARSET CAMPOS (GUE/NGL, Spain) for the report to be sent back to Committee was refused.�