WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2838/98 by Niall ANDREWS to the Commission. Long-term unemployment
Date: 1998-09-28
Institutions: ANDREWS, European Parliament
Subjects: EU Member State, European Union, employment policy, fight against unemployment, long-term unemployment, report

21.5.1999

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 142/43

Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission

(22 October 1998)

The Commission is not aware of any recent leakage into the Irish Sea from the Sellafield nuclear
reprocessing plant.

Nevertheless, the Commission will seek further information from the British authorities.

(1999/C 142/052)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2838/98

by Niall Andrews (UPE) to the Commission

(28 September 1998)

Subject: Long-term unemployment

Will the Commission indicate what progress has been made in each EU State in tackling long-term
unemployment?

Answer given by Mr Flynn on behalf of the Commission

(10 November 1998)

Long-term unemployment in the Community has become an increasingly difficult problem to solve. Most
Member States have experienced the emergence of a hard core of unemployed with prolonged
unemployment periods resulting in loss of skill and motivation. The average Community rate of long-
term unemployment increased from 4,6 % to 5,2 % between 1992 and 1997. In the majority of countries,
long-term unemployment ahs increased during the same period. However, some Member States have
achieved progress in tackling long-term unemployment, namely Denmark, Ireland, United Kingdom and
to a lesser extent the Netherlands. In all other Member States, the percentage of the labour force
undergoing very long periods of unemployment has been increasing and in some cases (most notably
Belgium, Greece, Spain and Italy) it has remained at very high levels (see table forwarded direct to the
Honourable Member and to Parliament’s Secretariat General).

Successive European Councils meeting since Essen in December 1994 have agreed to intensify efforts in
favour of groups particularly hard hit by employment. The long-term unemployed were pinpointed as one
of these groups.

In 1998 Employment Guidelines, endorsed by the Luxembourg Joint Summit and subsequently adopted
by the Council, two of the three Community-level operational targets deal with the prevention of long-
term unemployment. They provide as an objective that every unemployed person should be offered a new
start before reaching six months of unemployment in the case of young people and twelve months in the
case of adults. The 1998 national action plans subsequently submitted by the Member States show for a
large minority of Member States a clear shift towards prevention and activation policies with a view to
tackling long-term unemployment. A more detailed description of policy tools in action and future
policies to reduce the number of long-term unemployed is in the draft 1998 joint employment report.

(1999/C 142/053)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2839/98

by Daniel Varela Suanzes-Carpegna (PPE) to the Commission

Subject: Future EU ports and maritime transport policy

(28 September 1998)

In reply to Written Question E-3493/95 (1) of 15 February 1995, the European Commission stated that it
had set up a task force on future maritime systems seeking to bring together research and industry in the
maritime industries sector, which covers shipbuilding, maritime transport and marine resources (fisheries,
aquaculture, energy). Furthermore, the Commission stressed the prime importance assigned to the