WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3269/98 by Viviane REDING to the Commission. The scandal involving ECHO: are dangerous religious sects being financed with EU funds?
Date: 1998-10-30
Institutions: European Parliament, REDING
Subjects: EU aid, EU financing, Luxembourg, fraud, heritage protection, humanitarian aid, religious sect, use of aid

C 207/44

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

21.7.1999

(1999/C 207/058)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3267/98

by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

Subject: Survey by the European employment observatory

(30 October 1998)

According to a survey carried out by the European employment observatory, unemployment in Greece runs at
13,2 %. This is a different figure from that reached both by the Greek Manpower Employment Organisation
(10 %) and by the Greek Statistical Service (10,3 %). Since the relevant Eurostat publications on unemployment
failed to give figures for Greece, will the Commission notify us of the conclusions of the above survey, in
particular as regards long-term youth unemployment (extent of the problem, likelihood of finding work, etc.).
Given that the publication of this survey concerning Greece caused a sensation / since it gives an employment
rate some 30 % higher than the other surveys /, will the Commission confirm its reliability? Does it reflect real
unemployment trends in Greece?

Answer given by Mr de Silguy on behalf of the Commission

(10 December 1998)

The Honourable Member refers to an article in issue No 30 of Trends, published by the Employment
Observatory in summer 1998. The issue examines groups of the population which are not classified as
unemployed under current international definitions. These groups include for example people taking part in
work programmes, people working less hours than they would wish (’visible underemployment’), people
working less than usual for economic reasons and people wishing for a job but not actively seeking work
because they believe none is available (‘discouraged workers’).

The figure of 13,2 % quoted in the question is an ‘aggregated unemployment indicator’ for Greece, calculated
by adding the four groups named above (respectively 0,9 %, 0,8 %, 0,8 % and 0,4 % of the labour force) to the
figure of 10,3 % given as the unemployment figure for 1996 by the Greek Statistical Office (which is already
higher than the 9,6 % published by the Commission, for definition reasons which are discussed in the article).
Conducting the same exercise for other Member States also of course results in total figures higher than the
official unemployment rates.

The article highlights a number of important issues related to unemployment, amongst which might be
mentioned the problem of entry into the labour market for young people without work experience and the
increased difficulty of finding employment for people who have already been without a job for a long period.
These correspond in most essentials to the analysis presented in other publications produced on behalf of the
Commission, such as the annual Employment in Europe report.

The Commission welcomes all research which, like this article, contributes to a fuller understanding of labour
market phenomena. In its own publication of labour market figures, the Commission proposes to continue to
follow the definitions published by the International Labour Office, which are recognised by all the Member
States.

(1999/C 207/059)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3269/98

by Viviane Reding (PPE) to the Commission

(30 October 1998)

Subject: The scandal involving ECHO: are dangerous religious sects being financed with EU funds?

As may be gleaned from press reports (see ‘Le Soir’, edition of 14 October 1998, p. 11), the fraud scandal
involving aid from the Commission’s ECHO office is very extensive. It is alleged that the Japanese Sûkyô
Mahikari sect, based in Luxembourg (the Château d’Ansembourg accommodates its administrative offices
responsible for Europe and Africa) and classified as being very dangerous, has indirectly received vast sums of
money from EU funds. It is also alleged that the leader of the sect for Europe and Africa, Count Gaston
d’Ansembourg, has benefited from external contracts awarded by the Commission.