Noel Treacy
Question:45 Mr. N. Treacy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs his views on the fact that a previous statement made in answer to Parliamentary Question No. 34 of 6 February 1997, regarding the EU-Israel Association Agreement wherein he claimed that the overwhelming importance of the human rights clause and the extent to which it underlines all subsequent commitments is shown by the fact that it is placed in Article 2, at the very beginning of the association agreement, was misleading in view of the fact that the order in which the articles of any EU agree- ment with a third country are placed has no bearing on their importance and provisions contained in the first article can still be undermined by the last; and if he will follow the advice of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs which, on 26 February 1997, urged him to clarify the supremacy of Article 2 to avoid interpretation of the agreement in any manner which may undermine the non-derogability of human rights, particularly in view of the implications of the Israeli Supreme Court ruling of 14 November 1996, which legalised torture. [7454/97]