WRITTEN QUESTION E-1933/00 by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Budget Item A-3036.
Date: 2000-06-16
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European integration, budget, credit, public building, university, vision of Europe

C 81 E/112

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

13.3.2001

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(24 July 2000)

The Commission would inform the Honourable Member that it has reached agreement with the Dutch
authorities to have a single programming document (SPD) with four priorities (the respective budgetary
shares are indicated in brackets):

(cid:129) Priority 1: Prevention according to guideline 2 (36 %)

(cid:129) Priority 2: Employability of the labour force (45 %)

(cid:129) Measure 2.1: Reintegration of long-term unemployed (36 %)

(cid:129) Measure 2.2: Training of workers (8 %)

(cid:129) Measure 2.3: Article 4.2 of the ESF regulation (1 %)

(cid:129) Priority 3: Life long learning in vocational education (16 %)

(cid:129) Priority 4: Technical assistance (3 %).

European social fund-Netherlands (ESF-NL) is a new unit, recently established within Arbeidsvoorziening
(ARBVO), that will act as managing authority. ESF-NL has created a network of six regional clusters to
maintain contacts with the final beneficiaries. Apart from ARBVO it has been decided, for the moment,
that there will be five other types of final beneficiaries: the 25 largest cities (G25), the 40 sectoral training
funds, the Landelijk Instituut Sociale Verzekeringen (LISV), the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science
for priority 3, and ESF-NL as the sole final beneficiary for technical assistance.

1.
The SPD contains a specific chapter on additionality with a detailed table showing how much the
Netherlands has been spending in the past. The Commission will ensure that the Netherlands does not use
ESF funds simply to replace existing expenditure. The additionality principle is checked three times by the
Commission during the programming period: ex ante, before the end of 2003 and before the end of 2005.

2.
The G25 are individually recognised as final beneficiaries, the smaller municipalities will have to
apply to ARBVO for ESF support. The budget given to ARBVO for this purpose will be closely monitored.
The European employment strategy has given a new role to the ESF which requires a shift in policy
emphasis away from curative to preventive. The new SPD has taken this into account which means that a
large part of the ESF budget has been set aside for the comprehensive approach according to guideline 2 of
the national action plan (NAP) in which the municipalities are to play an important role. The Commission
has asked the Netherlands to give the comprehensive approach more visibility in its new SPD.

Once the new SPD has been approved,

3.
forward a copy directly to the
Parliament. The Commission is confident that the Honourable Member will find that transparency and
additionality have been respected in the proposals of the Netherlands government.

the Commission will

(2001/C 81 E/134)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1933/00

by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(16 June 2000)

Subject: Budget Item A-3036

€ 250 000 is allocated to the Jean Monnet House from Item A-3036. Could the Commission indicate what
work is carried out by the Jean Monnet House and how this money is used?

13.3.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 81 E/113

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(7 September 2000)

The Jean Monnet House was bought and restored by Parliament in 1982 and given to the Jean Monnet
Association to manage.

The Jean Monnet Association chiefly organises visits to the house (16 000 visitors per year) and lectures
for visitors (20 per month) on Europe and the history of Europe(cid:146)s construction. Most of the visitors are
schoolchildren and university students. The nationalities of the visitors extend far beyond the boundaries of
the European Union.

The appropriation allocated by the budgetary authority under item A-3036 is (cid:145)to cover the activities and
programmes organised by the Jean Monnet House(cid:146), which, according to the plan submitted to the
Commission by the Jean Monnet Association for the year 2000, include: 250-350 lectures and seminars
for teachers, heads of establishments, documentalists, school classes, apprentices, etc.; numerous seminars
and lectures for university students, business schools, American summer schools (exchanges with the ESC
Angers business school on 10 July and with the HEC Paris business school on 20 July),
institutes of
political studies etc. for students from France, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Spain, Poland, etc., as well as
from America, Canada, Australia, South America and Asia; launching of a programme of seminars in the
new Conference Room for groups of adults (from companies, embassies, public authorities and associa-
tions);
the
information pack on the European Union; production of the (cid:145)Cahiers europØens d(cid:146)Houjarray(cid:146) (Houjarray
European Journal) for teachers in Europe; and a video project (cid:145)Europe yesterday, Europe today, Europe
tomorrow(cid:146).

Internet site; updating, development and dissemination of

the Association Jean Monnet

(2001/C 81 E/135)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1936/00

by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(16 June 2000)

Subject: Budget Item A-3024

Could the Commission identify the organisations that receive money from Item A-3024, (cid:145)Associations and
Federations of European interest(cid:146)?

In what projects are these organisations currently involved?

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(13 September 2000)

The appropriation under title A-3024 is intended to support information and communication activities
connected with reflection at European level on the values and foundations of European integration carried
out by associations and federations of European interest. It cannot be used to cover the operating costs of
organisations.

Since the coming into force of the Commission(cid:146)s vademecum on grant management in 1999, the projects
receiving financial assistance under budget line A-3024 are selected by means of an annual call for
proposals, published in the Official
journal and on the Europa site. This year(cid:146)s call for proposals was
published on February 15th in the Official journal (1).

The kind of measures supported include conferences, seminars, radio and television programmes, films and
videos, creation of networks, publications, and information technology products.

The projects for the year 2000 were selected in May 2000, but the financial and administrative procedures
have not been completed yet. As soon as the contracts are sent out to the beneficiary organisations, the
final list will be made available.

(1) OJ C 42, 15.2.2000.