WRITTEN QUESTION P-0448/96 by Christa Randzio-Plath (PSE) to the Commission (16 February 1996)

Subject: Structural Funds and equal opportunities

The reform of the Structural Funds established the principle of equal opportunities in connection with all funds and Community initiatives.

1. The Commission undertook (see answer to Written Question P-1794/95 ((OJ C 273, 18.10.1995, p. 42. ))) to prepare by the end of 1995 a report on how equal opportunities were taken into account in Community policies. What conclusion did the Commission reach in this report? How were Structural Fund resources allocated?

2. Did the Commission reach the conclusion that it must introduce new types of assistance? If so, what types will it consider?

3. Will it be necessary, in the Commission's view, to alter the basic Structural Fund regulation in order to guarantee equal opportunities as part of the implementation of the Structural Funds?

Answer given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission (25 March 1996)

1. The 1993 amendments to the Regulations governing the operations of the structural funds extended the requirement to observe the principle of equal opportunities to all operations of the funds. A specific clause concerning this new requirement was included in the decisions to approve programmes.

In 1995 an equal opportunities working party of Members of the Commission was set up, flanked by an interdepartmental working party. A Commission communication to the Parliament and the Council entitled 'Incorporating equal opportunities for women and men into all Community policies and activities' has just been adopted. A section of it covers the structural funds, which are the main financial instrument for implementing the Community's priorities, one of which is promotion of equal opportunities between women and men. It also contains some figures on the financial resources mobilized, especially those of the European Social Fund. Nevertheless, work will continue on identifying indicators and ways of measuring the degree to which equality is taken into account in current programmes.

It is proposed to establish basic indicators for certain types of positive equality measures in order to establish pertinent project selection criteria for use by the committees monitoring the programmes. A horizontal evaluation study is under way to find out how this dimension has actually been taken on board by the structural funds. The Commission is also planning to draw up methodological guidelines for the monitoring committees. The work that has been done so far points to the need to improve the coherence and complementarity of different Community activities, as the forms of cooperation under way testify.

2. The Commission has not concluded that new types of assistance are needed. Of the steps it is considering, the first is to optimize the programming under way by doing everything possible to make the monitoring committees more aware of the issue. To mark International Women's Day, the Commission organized a conference on 7 and 8 March on equal opportunities in the operations of the structural funds from the programming stage to implementation and monitoring. For the new period of programming 1997-99 for industrial restructuring areas (Objective 2), it is planned to include a chapter on the need to take account of the equal-opportunities dimension in the guidelines given to the Member States. Other activities are scheduled, such as the Europartenariat on 13 and 14 June in Lulea, Sweden, which will be devoted to women's enterpreneurship and support for women wanting to set up their own businesses. Brochures on good practice are currently being prepared, the themes ranging from the lessons to be learnt from the implementation of the NOW initiative to things that can be done to ensure women are taken into account in the design and implementation of regional development policies.

3. The basic structural funds ((OJ L 193, 31.7.1993. )) Regulation lays down the principle of equal opportunities in fund operations and there seems to be no need to amend it at this stage. The challenge facing the Commission is to ensure that the Member States, which are responsible for implementing the programmes and thus choosing the activities and the contents of individual projects, fully comply with this requirement.