WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2249/96 by Umberto BOSSI to the Commission. Disparities in the dates of publication in the various national languages of information and application forms relating to participation in Community programmes
Date: 1996-08-09
Institutions: BOSSI, European Parliament
Subjects: EU Member State, EU Official Journal, EU programme, form, invitation to tender, official language, publishing deadline, restriction on competition













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91996E2249

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2249/96 by Umberto BOSSI to the Commission. Disparities in the dates of publication in the various national languages of information and application forms relating to participation in Community programmes  


Official Journal C 011 , 13/01/1997 P. 0071 





WRITTEN QUESTION E-2249/96 by Umberto Bossi (ELDR) to the Commission (9 August 1996)Subject: Disparities in the dates of publication in the various national languages of information and application forms relating to participation in Community programmesWith reference to the brief answer given to Written Question E-1257/96 ((OJ C 305, 15.10.1996, p. 69. )) I should like to ask the following questions.The Commission publishes calls to tender, invitations to submit applications and expressions of interest concerning Community programmes simultaneously in all the official languages of the EU in the Official Journal. Companies or private individuals, after seeing specific documentation distributed by the various directorates-general, can submit their applications using specific forms also published by the directorates-general.All this material is only very rarely available in all the national languages, but is available in English, French and German. Sometimes it is available in the other languages only weeks later.How does the Commission justify choosing these particular languages? Does the Commission not consider that this selection criterion effectively penalizes individuals and firms in the Member States whose official languages are not those mentioned above? Does the Commission not consider this choice to be a tacit endorsement of unfair competition within the Union?Since the deadline for submitting applications and requests is the same for all (as laid down in the Official Journal) but, in practice, creates differences between countries based on the choice of language, can the Commission say how it intends to remedy the disparity in the amount of time available to those interested in submitting applications for access to Community programmes?If, as is often claimed, delay in publishing material in all the official languages are due to 'mere' translation problems, does the Commission not consider that these technical shortcomings in effect undermine the principles of transparency and equality, which form the ideological basis of the European Union?Answer given by Mr Santer on behalf of the Commission (23 October 1996)While in certain cases documents may become available first in the languages used for their drafting or preparation within the Commission, the Commission intends to avoid the problems to which the Honourable Member refers by ensuring to the maximum of its ability that published documents directly relating to competitions, calls for proposals and manifestations of interest should be published simultaneously in all the Community languages.