Interpelare adresată de europarlamentarul slovac Anna Zaborska referitoare la finanțarea de la bugetul Uniunii Europene a organizațiilor care promovează avortul în țări din afara UE. Reprodusă integral de pe website-ul Parlamentului European.
5 December 2013
E-013802-13
Question for written answer to the Commission
Rule 117
Anna Záborská (PPE)
Subject: Funding of abortion through EU development aid — An analysis of EU Sexual and Reproductive Health Policy
In 2012, the NGO European Dignity Watch (EDW) published a report on ‘The Funding of Abortion Through EU Development Aid — An Analysis of EU Sexual and Reproductive Health Policy’, in which it claimed that the EU’s Development Aid and Public Health budgets were being used to fund abortion in developing countries. The European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) ‘One of Us’ collected almost 1.9 million signatures for a petition that proposes a modification of the EU Financial Regulation in order to prevent EU money being used, either directly or indirectly, to finance abortion. On 22 October, the Commission published a call for proposals on ‘Promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights — Universal Access to Reproductive Health’. This call for proposals does not appear to explicitly exclude the financing of projects that involve the provision or promotion of abortion in the countries concerned. Against this backdrop, could the Commission please respond to the following:
- Has the Commission ever commented on the EDW report? If not, could it do so now?
- Given the success of the ECI ‘One of Us’, is the Commission contemplating any interim measures, such as a moratorium, to ensure that no EU funds are used for projects involving the provision or promotion of abortion in the countries concerned?
- According to the findings, the Commission did indeed fund NGOs providing abortion services in third countries where abortion is subject to constitutional restrictions. What is the Commission’s policy on respecting the national sovereignty of third countries when dealing with development aid?
- If, contrary to EDW’s findings, the Commission has never funded abortions in third countries — either consciously or through negligence — and if it has no intention of doing so in the future, why are NGOs which provide abortions still able to apply for SRHR programmes and funding, and why do the calls for action not explicitly mention the exclusion of abortion-related activities as a condition in any future call for proposals relating to sexual and reproductive health and rights?
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E-013802/2013
Answer given by Mr Piebalgs on behalf of the Commission
(7.2.2014)
The Commission notes that the question from the Honourable Member is similar to questions already asked by fellow parliamentarians. To this end the Honourable Member is kindly referred to the replies to questions E-12531/2013, E-005275/2012 and E-005269/2012[1] which clarify the EU’s financing policy on abortion and our respect for partner countries’ policies and legislation in this matter.
As to the European Dignity Watch report, it is founded on erroneous analysis of the EU’s policies on funding health care and abortion in third countries and includes inaccurate interpretation of the International conference on population and development (ICPD). The Commission does not intend to comment further on this report.
The European citizen’s initiative ‘One of Us’ (ECI(2012)000005) is currently subject to verification of statements of support by the competent national authorities. Once it has been officially received by the Commission, it will be examined according to the appropriate procedure. No interim measures have been planned.
