# CE2004084EN.01033301.xml

| 3.4.2004 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | CE 84/333 |
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3.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CE 84/333

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(2004/C 84 E/0392)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0241/04

by Johanna Boogerd-Quaak (ELDR) to the Commission

(2 February 2004)

Subject:   Language discrimination — native speakers

Subject:

In its answer to Written Question E-2764/02 (1), the Commission acknowledges that a ‘native speaker’ condition in recruitment announcements ‘is not acceptable under Community rules on free movement of workers, as it is unlawfully discriminatory. Therefore the Commission considers that the use of this term in job advertisements is prohibited by Community law.’

1

Over the last year, Commission-funded European technical assistance offices, non-governmental organisations and private firms have advertised more than 700 vacancies at European level which have been set aside exclusively for ‘native English speakers’ or ‘English mother tongue’ applicants. For those vacancies, no-one with ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’ knowledge of English was looked for; rather, and expressly, only native English-speakers. However, such advertisements are still frequently published. These days, organisations are replacing terms such as ‘English mother tongue’ by ‘English mother tongue or equivalent’ and ‘English native speaker level’ and are subsequently interviewing only English native-speakers.

| 1. | Does the Commission intend to combat this? If so, how? If not, why not? |
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1.

Does the Commission intend to combat this? If so, how? If not, why not?

| 2. | Does the Commission also intend to work in future with organisations which discriminate against non-native English-speakers? |
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2.

Does the Commission also intend to work in future with organisations which discriminate against non-native English-speakers?

Joint answer

to Written Questions E-0201/04, E-0210/04, E-0236/04 and E-0241/04

given by Mr Dimas on behalf of the Commission

(22 March 2004)

(22 March 2004)

The Commission would refer the Honourable Members to its reply to Written Questions E-0046/04 by Mr Dhaene and E-0086/04 by Mrs Maes (2) on this subject.

2

The Community action programme to combat discrimination, adopted by the Council Decision of 27 November 2000, is based on Article 13 of the Amsterdam Treaty, which gives the Community jurisdiction to combat discrimination based on racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation. Discrimination based on language is not, therefore, one of the areas potentially covered by the programme, and the Commission does not intend to fund such activities.

The Commission has written to the companies Intrasoft and Ogilvy in order to draw their attention to this problem and to inform them that they should take this into account when recruiting personnel.

With regard to Intrasoft, which had been contacted by the Commission following previous parliamentary questions on this matter, the Commission notes that this company no longer uses discriminatory wording in job advertisements on its website; the Commission has, nevertheless, written to this company to remind it of the rules concerning this matter.

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(1)  OJ C 92 E, 17.4.2003, p. 207.

1

(2)  See page 302.

2

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