WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1221/98 by Umberto BOSSI to the Commission. Availability in the various national languages of information and application forms for the programme 'Media II - Development and Distribution'
Date: 1998-04-29
Institutions: BOSSI, European Parliament
Subjects: EU programme, EU publication, audiovisual programme, dissemination of EU information, equal treatment, form, invitation to tender, official document, official language, restriction on competition

C 402/94

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

22.12.98

(98/C 402/120)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1221/98

by Umberto Bossi (NI) to the Commission

(29 April 1998)

Subject: Availability in the various national languages of information and application forms for the programme

(cid:145)Media II › Development and Distribution(cid:146)

The European Commission published Call 6/98 for proposals for the Community programme (cid:145)Media II ›
Development and Distribution(cid:146) in Official Journal C 71 of 7 March 1998.

The information and application forms relating to this call are only available in French and English.

Does the Commission not agree that this choice, albeit arbitrary, in practice favours citizens whose mother tongue
is French or English, thereby creating an unequal situation in the EU?

In view of the Commission(cid:146)s reply to my previous Written Question No E-2249/96 (1) (... (cid:145)the Commission [...]
ensuring [...] that published documents directly relating to competitions, calls for proposals and manifestations of
interest should be published simultaneously in all the Community languages(cid:146)... ), how does the Commission
justify its decision to make the documentation for Call 6/98 for the (cid:145)Media II › Development and Distribution(cid:146)
Programme available in only two Community languages, to the exclusion of all the others?

In the light of the Commission(cid:146)s reply to my previous Written Question No E-1256/96 (2) (paragraph VI: (cid:145)Under
Article 2 of Regulation No 1 laying down the rules governing the languages of the institutions of the Community,
candidates may submit applications in whichever official Community language they choose(cid:146)), can the
Commission explain why it is not made clear in Call 6/98 that candidates can submit their applications in a
language other than that in which the form is written?

(1) OJ C 11, 13.1.1997, p. 71.
(2) OJ C 322, 28.10.1996, p. 46.

Answer given by Mr Oreja on behalf of the Commission

(18 June 1998)

In accordance with two Council Decisions establishing the MEDIA programme (Decisions 95/564/EC and
95/563/EC) (1), the Commission, in conjunction with the Member States, has set up information offices, called
MEDIA desks, in the Member States.

The aim of the MEDIA desks is to inform European professionals in the audiovisual industry of Community
audiovisual policy and more particularly of the possibilities offered by the MEDIA programme. To that end, they
are required to distribute and explain to professionals the calls for proposals under the MEDIA programme,
which the Commission publishes in French, English and German.

In Member States where audiovisual professionals feel the need, the MEDIA desks provide translations of the
guidelines and forms for the calls for proposals under the MEDIA programme. Thus each professional can obtain
Commission forms in his own language. Projects presented to the Commission as part of the MEDIA programme
can be in any one of the eleven official languages.

During the mid-term review of the MEDIA programme this year, the Commission will study ways to take the
Honourable Member(cid:146)s comments into account.

(1) OJ L 321, 30.12.1995.