WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1512/97 by Richard HOWITT to the Commission. Access to information
Date: 1997-04-30
Institutions: European Parliament, HOWITT
Subjects: EU action, EU financing, EU publication, access to EU information, euro, facilities for people with disabilities, intergovernmental conference (EU), official document, physically disabled person, public awareness campaign













EUR-Lex - 91997E1512 - EN






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91997E1512

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1512/97 by Richard HOWITT to the Commission. Access to information  


Official Journal C 391 , 23/12/1997 P. 0095 





WRITTEN QUESTION P-1512/97 by Richard Howitt (PSE) to the Commission (30 April 1997)Subject: Access to informationAs a result of the seminar in April 1996 organized by the European Blind Union on access to information co-funded by DG X of the EC, a report was issued with recommendations to make information and services provided by the EC more accessible. One priority was the information campaigns organized by the EC regarding citizens' rights, the Euro and Intergovernmental Conference.Attempts to discuss the recommendations and an action plan with DG X, to ensure that information provided by those campaigns is available for blind and partially sighted people, were not successful.What is the present status of information campaigns? Have any steps been taken to incorporate the needs of blind and partially sighted people in the information provision? Will the EC comment on EBU's recommendations for improving access to their information and services, which were presented to the Commission in 1996? Will the EC hold meetings with EBU representatives to consider appropriate action in the area of access to information by blind and partially sighted citizens?Answer given by Mr Oreja on behalf of the Commission (6 June 1997)Following the seminar to which the honourable Member refers, contact was indeed made with associations of visually impaired people as part of the priority information schemes being run by the Commission (the Prince programme). Talks have started with the European Blind Association, the headquarters of which are in Paris, with a view to launching measures to bring information about the euro to disabled people in general and the blind and partially sighted in particular.Regarding the 'Citizens first' campaign, a project developed by the Swedish Association of the Visually Impaired received complete financial backing from the Commission. Similar contacts have taken place with the Organización Nacional de Ciegos de España (the Spanish National Association for the Blind), which is expected to submit an official proposal very shortly.As far as the information campaign on the Intergovernmental Conference is concerned, specific measures will be planned during the second stage of the exercise, insofar as budgetary resources permit, to explain the new Treaty which is due to come out of the Amsterdam European Council.The Commission also had wide-ranging consultations with bodies representing associations for the visually impaired with a view to defining the technical constraints to be taken into account when manufacturing euro coins and notes. When the new currency is finally produced, the special requirements of the visually impaired will thus be taken into account. The Commission has also had the opportunity to present a book listing Community and national schemes for the disabled which has been published in Spanish and English under the title 'European Disability Law'.For further information on official documents accessible to the visually impaired, the Honourable Member is requested to refer to the answer to Written Question No E-1520/97 by Mrs Jackson ((OJ C 367, 4.12.1997. )).