Written question asked by Lord Roper (Non-affiliated), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead (Labour) on Tuesday, 6 April 2010.

Moldova

Question: To ask Her Majesty's Government why the scrutiny reserve resolution was overridden on the proposed Council Decision extending restrictive measures against the leadership of the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova; and what steps they are taking to avoid a repeat of those circumstances.

Answer: The sanctions measures against the leadership of the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova were due to expire on 27 February 2010. If the new Council decision was not adopted before then, the existing measures would have lapsed. The override arose due to an error by Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials who were unclear when the Scrutiny Committees would sit after the Recess in February. The FCO takes its scrutiny commitments very seriously. It does everything it can to avoid an override and to keep the Scrutiny Committees informed on sanctions matters. The relevant teams within the FCO are therefore discussing what steps to take to prevent this error occurring again.

Secondary information