John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator Mooney for raising the issue and I apologise for the absence of the Minister for Foreign Affairs who is attending to Government business.

The EU has given careful consideration to the status of Kongra-gel. The final decision to include the group on the EU list of terrorist organisations as an alias of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, was taken unanimously by the Council of Ministers of the European Union on 2 April 2004. The Council is satisfied that Kongra-gel, or Kurdistan People's Congress, is involved in terrorist activities. It is a successor organisation to the PKK and cannot be separated from it in any meaningful way.

All proposals for designation are examined in light of criteria established under the European Union's common position 2001/93I/CFSP, which was adopted on 27 December 2001. The common position involves the application of specific measures to combat terrorism. It enables European Union member states to fulfil their obligations under UN Security Council Resolution 1373, which was adopted in the wake of the attacks on 11 September 2001. If the Council of Ministers is satisfied that an organisation meets the defined criteria, it may be included on the EU list of terrorist groups.

Terrorist groups should not be permitted to de-list themselves by simply adopting a new name. However, each addition to the list must be considered on the basis of evidence rather than an organisation's associations. While Kongra-gel was designated an alias of the PKK, which was itself designated by the EU as a terrorist organisation on 2 May 2002, the decision to include it on the list was taken on the basis that it actively engages in terrorist activities. I would like Members of the House to be clear on the terms that are being used. The Common Position provides a definition of terrorist acts as, inter alia, attacks on a person's life which may cause death, attacks upon the physical integrity of a person, kidnapping or hostage taking, causing extensive damage to a Government or public facility, directing a terrorist group or participating in the activities of a terrorist group, including the funding of its activities. These are acts committed with the aim of seriously intimidating a population or unduly compelling a Government or an international organisation to perform or abstain from performing any act. They are aimed at seriously destabilising or destroying the fundamental political, constitutional, economic or social structures of a country or an international organisation.

The Council is satisfied that there is sufficient basis to conclude that Kongra-gel meets the criteria for designation. The entries on the list are reviewed at regular intervals, at least once every six months, to ensure there are grounds for keeping them on it. If Kongra-gel shows a genuine willingness exclusively to embrace fully democratic and peaceful methods in the pursuit of its aims, the Council will then reconsider its status.

The EU supports the right of the Kurdish community democratically to express its aspirations. However, terrorist acts are not a legitimate part of democratic expression. They have no place in the political process and the EU will take every appropriate action to counter the threat posed by terrorism wherever it originates.