WRITTEN QUESTION E-1928/00 by Fernando Fernández Martín (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Fight against poverty in the developing world.
Date: 2000-06-16
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Development Assistance Committee, EU aid, EU programme, cooperation policy, developing countries, development aid, foreign policy, poverty, social development

C 113 E/52

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.4.2001

All these elements are present, for example, in the newly concluded EU-ACP partnership agreement, in a
coherent framework.

The implementation of the Community strategy will be made, taking into account these elements, in terms
of resources allocated to each developing country, of targeting programmes on the poorest groups of
population, and of mainstreaming poverty concerns into the different programmes.

The poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSPs) of the World Bank will also give the Community (cid:129) with the
Member States (cid:129) the opportunity to focus its programmes on poverty reduction. Several participatory
poverty assessments have already been launched by the Community and other donors.

This will also provide an effective tool for improving complementarity between donors. Such comple-
mentarity should lead, at the level of each beneficiary country, to a division of tasks between the
multilateral and bilateral donors. It would facilitate an accelerated move towards sector-wide approaches.

Intermediary indicators, based on the development assistance committee (DAC) international objectives,
will be determined, country by country, with the main objectives of access to basic social services, enabling
men and women to achieve sustainable livelihoods, promoting social protection and supporting social
integration.

An estimate of the impact of Community aid on poverty is not possible for the time being. The
Commission is launching with Eurostat a programme in a few countries directed at improving poverty
measurements on the basis of a study already done by the Commission.

Indicators commonly used by all donors, for measurement in a given period of time and for a given
country, are, for example, for health: attendance rates at health centres, essential basic vaccination rates,
level of user satisfaction, costs of basic services; and for education: gross enrolment rates for boys and girls,
success rates for boys and girls at primary school leaving examination, number of books per pupil, and
cost of schooling.

(2001/C 113 E/048)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1928/00

by Fernando FernÆndez Mart(cid:237)n (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Fight against poverty in the developing world

(16 June 2000)

What are the broad aims of the Community programmes to combat poverty in the developing countries?

Will the Commission give specific examples of the results obtained by these programmes?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(26 July 2000)

The Commission approach to poverty reduction was first set out in the communication of 1993, and
1.
in May 1998. The Commission mainly
this was reviewed in a working paper presented to Council
approached poverty reduction through support to basic social services,
including through the use of
counterpart funds arising from structural adjustment support. A recent estimate is that spending on these
areas for African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries is about 20 %, in line with the commitment of
Copenhagen in 1995. However, it is nessary to look further at this strategy, and focus on those issues that
have most effect on poverty reduction.

18.4.2001

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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This has been the main subject of the communication of the Commission on the Community development
co-operation policy which states that the main objective of development co-operation is poverty reduction.

The Community is steadily increasing its aid to least developed countries and will continue to do so on a
more systematic basis.

At the macro-economic level, structural adjustment programmes of the (cid:145)new generation(cid:146) include social
indicators (health and education) for the allocation of part of the funds, in order to stimulate the countries
concerned to achieve better results in these sectors.

In the framework of EU-ACP co-operation, the national indicative programmes put emphasis on poverty
In many African countries this is
reduction as an important objective of development co-operation.
reflected in the choice of focal sectors such as food security, rural development, or social sectors. Amounts
allocated to basic social services (health and education) have dramatically increased.

At the international level, the Community has promoted the importance of dealing with the political and
international dimensions of poverty. These issues are now recognised in the agendas of the SPA and
development assistance committee (DAC) working groups on poverty, and the Commission is actively
engaged in this work.

The recently signed Cotonou agreement between the ACP countries and the Union provides a good
example of a contractual framework for co-operation centred on the objective of poverty reduction.
Community development co-operation will be based on integrated strategies that incorporate economic,
social, cultural, environmental and institutional elements that must be locally owned. Co-operation will
thus provide a coherent enabling framework of support for the ACP(cid:146)s own development strategies.

2.
For specific results on poverty reduction, the Honourable Member is invited to refer to the evaluation
of (cid:145)The European Community External Co-operation Programmes- policies, management and distribution(cid:146)
published by the Commission and the Overseas Development Institute (1999). This evaluation shows that
investment in access to basic social services (especially health and education) has dramatically increased in
ACP countries over the last three years. Results on poverty reduction have certainly be significant in the
field of protection of social budgets within the framework of structural adjustment programmes, of
microprojects and decentralised co-operation.

(2001/C 113 E/049)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1947/00

by Ulla Sandb(cid:230)k (EDD) to the Commission

(7 June 2000)

Subject: Implementation of directives in Member States via collective bargaining agreements

The then Commissioner Padraig Flynn gave an assurance on 10 May 1993 that it is possible to implement
directives via collective bargaining agreements without supplementary legislation. Was it
in
Commissioner Flynn(cid:146)s letter that such implementation can take place only where there is 100 % coverage
by such an agreement?

implicit

How does the Commission envisage that Danish workers not covered by collective bargaining agreements
could come within the scope of Council Directive 93/104/EC (1) of 23 November 1993 concerning certain
aspects of the organisation of working time?

(1) OJ L 307, 13.12.1993, p. 18.