WRITTEN QUESTION No. 974/98 by Gerardo FERNÁNDEZ-ALBOR to the Commission. Community action on behalf of the homeless under budget heading B3-4103
Date: 1998-03-30
Institutions: European Parliament, FERNANDEZ ALBOR
Subjects: EU action, EU initiative, European Social Fund, United Kingdom, homelessness, marginalisation, non-governmental organisation, social integration













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91998E0974

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 974/98 by Gerardo FERNÁNDEZ-ALBOR to the Commission. Community action on behalf of the homeless under budget heading B3-4103  


Official Journal C 386 , 11/12/1998 P. 0065 





WRITTEN QUESTION E-0974/98by Gerardo Fernández-Albor (PPE) to the Commission(30 March 1998)Subject: Community action on behalf of the homeless under budget heading B-4103In its detailed reply to my written question E-1169/97(1) the Commission informed me that due to the United Kingdom's appeal contesting the legality of funding projects in 1995 and 1996 from budget heading B-4103, no subsidies under that heading were paid.It is not apparent from the September 1996 order by the President of the Court of Justice whether this budget heading will be maintained, leaving the position of the homeless dependent on the Court of Justice's ruling on the United Kingdom's appeal.Can the Commission therefore tell me what stage has been reached with regard to the problems raised by the appeal? Has there been a ruling on the matter? What other potential sources of funding could be found within the framework of Community initiatives such as Emploi and the new Integra programme within it, URBAN or Leonardo? What form does the Commission's continuing support for Feantsa and the associated Monitoring Centre actually take?Answer given by Mr Flynn on behalf of the Commission(4 June 1998)Concerning the use of budget heading B-4103, the Commission must wait for the relevant judgments of the Court of Justice and then act accordingly.The final judgment in Case C-106/96 on the use of the budget heading in 1995 was delivered on 12 May 1998. The Court set aside the decision taken by the Commission in its communiqué of 23 January 1996 announcing grants for European projects to tackle social exclusion, though it did not call into question the payments made and commitments entered into under the 86 contracts that had been signed. The Court has not yet set a hearing date for Case C-240/96 concerning 1996.The homeless, particularly from the point of view of eventually reintegrating them into the labour market, have been included among the most vulnerable people, targeted by measures co-financed under the Integra strand of the Community's "Employment" initiative.The promotion of social integration and equal opportunities for all as regards access to the labour market constitutes one of the priority action areas in the proposal for a Regulation on the European Social Fund(2) recently submitted to the Council and Parliament.The activities of the European network "Feantsa" are currently co-financed under budget heading B-4116 "Cooperation with non-governmental organisations and associations formed by the socially excluded and the elderly".Help for the homeless is not specifically mentioned in the definition of the criteria for the Community's "Urban" initiative, but this does not rule out measures to assist them as part of the integrated approach proposed by the authorities responsible for a specific district.(1) OJ C 319, 18.10.1997, p. 241.(2) COM(98) 131 final.