EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 84/339

(2004/C 84 E/0398)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0237/04

by Miet Smet (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(2 February 2004)

Subject: Fees at the European Schools

Some weeks ago, the European Commission wrote a letter to the Board of Governors of the European Schools proposing a drastic increase in the level of school fees for pupils at the European Schools. There is even talk of raising the annual fee to EUR 12 500 per pupil. Can further clarification be provided regarding the Commission's proposal and the reasons for this drastic increase?

Pupils at the European Schools are divided into three categories. Each category pays a different amount in fees. Can further clarity be provided on the division of pupils into categories, the respective level of fees for pupils of different categories, and future trends?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(11 March 2004)

Article 1 of the Convention defining the Statute of the European Schools specifies that the prime purpose of the Schools is ‘to educate together children of the staff of the European Communities’. Those pupils are defined as category 1 pupils and no fees are paid by their parents because approximately 60 % of the European Schools' funding is provided from the EU budget. Articles 28 and 29 of the same Convention allow for Participation Agreements to be drawn up with other organisations governed by public or private law so that the children of their staff may attend the European Schools. These are defined as category 2 pupils, and the bodies with which the agreements are concluded pay fees which cover 100 % of the calculated cost of their education in each European School. In addition to the children referred to above, the Convention also allows for ‘other children’ to attend the European Schools, ‘within the limits set by the Board of Governors’. These are defined as category 3 pupils and, because of the EU Budget subsidies paid to the Schools, the fees paid are much lower than the relevant costs. Charges are currently EUR 2 680 per place for primary school and EUR 3 657 per place for secondary school annually. These charges plainly do not meet the average annual cost per pupil across the European Schools of almost EUR 11 000, reaching as much as EUR 16 500 per year in the European School in Bergen, EUR 16 000 in Mol and EUR 13 700 in Culham.

The necessarily increased budgetary requirements of the Schools as a consequence of enlargement, the budgetary restrictions of the EU budget, and the difficulty in justifying large subsidies for the education of pupils whose parents are not connected with the EU Institutions combine to make necessary increases in fees towards levels which relate more directly to real costs. In its capacity as a Member of the Board of Governors of the European Schools (which is otherwise drawn from all Member States), and fulfilling its duties of preparing submissions to the EU budgetary authorities and executing the approved budget, the Commission has recently proposed that the fees for category 3 pupils be increased gradually over the next five years. The proposal differentiates between a) new category 3 pupils for whom the increase would, by 2010, mean annual fees of EUR 9 400 for new primary and EUR 12 500 for new secondary pupils and b) existing category 3 pupils for whom the increase would, by 2010, mean annual fees of EUR 5 800 for primary, and EUR 8 000 for secondary pupils.

The proposal has yet to be adopted by the Board of Governors.

The attention of the Honourable Member is drawn to the fact that the parents of many existing category 3 pupils already benefit from a system of substantial exoneration of fees and that will continue until the end of their children's studies.