WRITTEN QUESTION P-1165/96 by Antonios Trakatellis (PPE) to the Commission (3 May 1996)

Subject: Supervisory role of the European Commission on the activities of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop)

With the new Article 127 of the EU Treaty, professional training has become a Community policy. Moreover, the White Book on 'Growth, Competitiveness and Employment' addresses the adoption of educational and professional training systems of the Member States as a first priority. Finally, the 'European Pact for Employment' presented to the European Parliament by President Santer announces a reassessment of the Community's structural action from the point of its efficiency. Against this background, it is quite surprising that the Working Programme submitted by Cedefop in December 1995 encompasses so little substance and expertise, while its orientations are invoked as a basis for denying directly support to operational projects in sectors which are important to the economy of some Member States particularly affected by unemployment.

1. While 18 million Europeans are out of a job, why does not the Commission supervise Cedefop more actively, since this agency was created in 1974 with a view to submitting to the European decision-making authorities proposals on concrete measures geared towards reducing unemployment by means of improvement in vocational training?

2. What action has the Commission taken since Cedefop moved from Berlin to Thessaloniki in order to compensate for the loss of Cedefop personnel, thus improving its operational activity?

3. Has the Commission taken full account of the fact that the activity of the Turin Agency is geared towards the Eastern European countries, so that a merger with Cedefop will necessarily be at the expense of a Community policy in which southern Member States are particularly interested, and what solutions could be contemplated in order to compensate Greece for the political and economic injury it would suffer in case of this merger?

Answer given by Mrs Cresson on behalf of the Commission (5 June 1996)

1. Cedefop was set up with 'the objective of assisting the Commission in encouraging at Community level the promotion and development of vocational training and of in-service training'. To that end Cedefop contributes, through its scientific and technical activities, to the exchange of information and the comparison of experience on issues which are common to the training systems of the Member States. The main tasks of Cedefop are to compile selected documentation, to contribute to the development and coordination of research, to disseminate useful documentation and information and to encourage and support any initiative likely to facilitate a concerted approach to vocational training problems. On the basis of its founding regulation therefore Cedefop may not submit to the European decision making authorities proposals on concrete measures nor provide direct support to operational projects in Member States.

The Cedefop work programme for 1996 includes several activities directly related to the White Paper on growth, competitiveness and employment ((COM(93) 700 final )) as well as projects aiming to reduce unemployment through the improvement of vocational training by means of analyses on changing occupations, competences and new qualifications in important sectors for all the Member States such as environment and information technology. These activities emanate also from the Leonardo da Vinci provisions, which state the areas in which Cedefop should cooperate in the implementation of the programme.

2. Cedefop is a decentralised Community agency whose management is independent of the Commission. It is administered by a Management Board, a quadripartite body (15 members representing the governments, 15 representing the employers' organisations, 15 representing the trade-union organisations, and three members representing the Commission), which is responsible for the terms and conditions of employment of personnel. A list of posts is approved each year by the budget authority, and at the request of the Commission representatives, the Management Board has recently adopted procedures for recruitment to posts which become vacant.

In accordance with the provisions of the social agreement approved by the Management Board in conjunction with the decision to transfer Cedefop to Thessaloniki, staff who were unable to move when the transfer took place in September 1995 were placed at the disposal of national bodies or seconded to Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee or the Commission for a specific period while continuing to work for Cedefop. At the moment, some of these members of staff are in the process of rejoining Cedefop in Thessaloniki, while others have benefited from mobility arrangements or have resigned. The Director will recruit new personnel to fill the posts which have become vacant. Furthermore, following the Commission's advice, the Director has been able make use of the rules applicable in order to recruit seconded national experts.

3. The tasks and geographical coverage of the European training foundation and of Cedefop, as defined in the respective regulations establishing the two agencies, are different. The Commission has therefore no intention of proposing a merger.