WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3537/98 by Richard CORBETT to the Commission. Budget line 3029
Date: 1998-11-25
Institutions: CORBETT, European Parliament
Subjects: Catholicism, eligibility criteria, international organisation, non-governmental organisation, religious group, student, youth movement

C 135/188

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

14.5.1999

(1999/C 135/238)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3537/98

by Richard Corbett (PSE) to the Commission

(25 November 1998)

Subject: Budget line 3029

Could the Commission publish a list of organisations benefiting from grants given under budget line 3029
over the last five years?

What is the Commission’s response to criticisms that there is a bias in such subsidies towards Catholic
organisations, whereas non-religious organisations and left-of-centre organisations, even with large
memberships, have benefited far less?

Answer given by Mrs Cresson on behalf of the Commission

(14 December 1998)

Every year the Commission has sent to the Parliament the list of organisations receiving grants from the
budget item relating to ‘Assistance for non-governmental international youth organisations’ (currently
item A-3029). The lists of beneficiaries since 1995 have been sent directly to the Honourable Member and
to the Parliament’s Secretariat-General.

The eligibility and selection criteria applied were published in the Official Journal in the call for the
submission of proposals (for the 1998 selection procedure) (1). These criteria do not make any reference to
the religious or non-religious nature of organisations. It can be seen from the list of beneficiaries that
organisations representing a number of religions are included, and that they make up only a small
proportion of recipients: in 1998, fewer than 10 % of the organisations receiving assistance described
themselves as being primarily of a religious nature. If most of these are Catholic, this is because a larger
number of applications for subsidies were received from Catholic organisations. It should be noted that no
application from a non-Catholic religious organisation has been rejected in the last few years.

Furthermore, one of the selection criteria is the representativeness of the organisation concerned; this
criterion has of course also been applied with regard to political organisations.

Finally, it is clear from the list of beneficiary organisations that most are neither religious nor political in
nature and are instead focused on other objectives, such as certain types of activity for young people, or
students’ organisations.

(1) OJ C 374, 10.12.1997.

(1999/C 135/239)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3555/98

by Cristiana Muscardini (NI) to the Commission

(1 December 1998)

Subject: St. Teresa di Lerici sailing school

On 30 December 1993, the local authority in Lerici approved the above project, financed by the Liguria
regional authority and the Community’s Reneval programme.

On 16 April 1997, work on the project was completed for the local authority in Lerici.

To date, five years after the funds for the project were approved and 18 months after work on the project
was completed, the local authority has still not managed to make the sailing school operational.
Furthermore, the fact that the school has remained unused for an extended period has led to the
deterioration of the buildings, which have also been damaged by vandals.