WRITTEN QUESTION E-2043/99

by Jeffrey Titford (EDD) to the Commission

(3 November 1999)

Subject: Expenditure on and legality of the Soul for Europe project

I am concerned about the establishment, purpose, legality and financing of the European Union's Soul for Europe department.

1. Who which person, group of persons or body set this unit up?

2. What is its precise purpose?

3. What is the legality of this unit? When was it authorised by either the Council of Ministers, the Commission or the European Parliament?

4. When did its operations commence?

5. To which Commissioner is this unit responsible?

6. What reports have ever been published by the Soul for Europe department?

7. I am aware that substantial grants have been made by the Soul for Europe department, or the Forward Studies Unit of which I believe it is part. Can the Commission supply a full list of those organisations that have been grant-aided by the Soul for Europe department, in each case indicating how much has been paid to those organisations?

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(6 December 1999)

There is no Soul for Europe department within the Commission. On the other hand there is an initiative taken by President Delors in 1994 and supported by President Santer under the name Soul for Europe. Ethics and Spirituality. This initiative aims to stimulate the dialogue with religious or humanist communities and to promote projects which contribute to the recognition and understanding of the ethical and spiritual dimensions of the European unification process and the policies of the Community.

In order to involve the partners (religious or humanist communities) in the context of the initiative Soul for Europe. Ethics and Spirituality, the Commission invited (in 1994) the partners to establish a screening committee (composed by their representatives) which recommends projects. These projects should explicitly promote the idea and the values of European integration and should promote reflection on the spiritual or ethical dimension of building a new Europe.

The screening committee is supported by a co-ordinator who is a staff member of the church and society commission of the conference of European churches (KEK). The meetings of the screening committee (about three a year) and of the work of the co-ordinator (on a half time basis) are subsidised by the Commission.

The grants for co-financing the projects recommended by the screening committee and accepted by the Commission are taken from the budget line A 3024. This is justified by the following remark, introduced by the Parliament in 1997: This appropriation mldr is also intended to support activities connected with reflection at European level on the ethical and spiritual foundations of Europe. The budget line A 3024 is now (since 1999) managed under the responsibility of the member of the Commission in charge of education and culture.

The co-ordinator presents (since 1997) every year a report on the evolution of the initiative and the evaluation of the projects which have been realised.

A full list of those organisations that have been grant-aided via the Soul for Europe programme is sent direct to the Honourable Member and to Parliament's Secretariat.