WRITTEN QUESTION E-2171/00 by Salvador Garriga Polledo (PPE-DE) to the Commission. View taken by the EU as regards the action framework for universal basic education.
Date: 2000-07-07
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: cooperation in the field of education, cooperation policy, developing countries, poverty

8.5.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 136 E/11

The proposed authorisations directive (3) allows for harmonisation of such aspects as charges,
fees,
procedures or conditions concerning general authorisation or the granting of rights of use, where
divergences between national situations create barriers to the internal market.

The European Council has called for the new regulatory framework to be adopted by the Parliament and
Council in 2001.

(1) COM(2000) 393 final.
(2) COM(2000) 407 final.
(3) COM(2000) 386 final.

(2001/C 136 E/011)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2171/00

by Salvador Garriga Polledo (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(7 July 2000)

Subject: View taken by the EU as regards the action framework for universal basic education

After the World Education Forum held last April in Dakar (Senegal), the UN and the World Bank reached
an agreement on an action framework intended to provide funding for poor countries which submitted a
plan for basic education by 2002.

The purpose of the agreement is to try to provide universal basic education by 2015 by involving over
180 countries, together with donors, the UN and a strong, active coalition of NGOs, who will henceforth
be essential partners in the campaign to provide education for all.

What view does the EU take of the attempt to provide universal basic education by 2015? How does the
EU intend to contribute to the combined worldwide effort agreed at the Dakar Forum?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(19 September 2000)

Provision of basic education for all is an indispensable component of the poverty reduction strategies. The
Community places the fight against poverty and the integration of developing countries at the centre of its
support to sustainable development.

The Commission is ready to support national education action plans aimed at achieving the post-Dakar
targets. As decided in the framework for action adopted in Dakar, the Commission looks forward to
monitoring with partner countries and all donors the progress towards the year 2015 and intermediary
It will work with the United Nations organisations, with non-governmental organisations
objectives.
(NGOs), and with partner countries to advocate and promote the objectives laid down by the Forum, and
in particular girls(cid:146) and women(cid:146)s education.

in particular support to social
The Commission made determined efforts to give development issues,
sectors including education, top priority at the G7-G8 Summit held in Okinawa on 19 July 2000, in line
with the commitment that the Dakar framework for action objectives are taken into consideration at each
international conference and summit.

Within this context, the Community is decided to contribute, with its Member States, to any initiative
taken by the World Bank, to provide funding for developing countries monitoring or implementing
national plans for the support of basic education. One of the priorities of the poverty reduction strategy
papers (PRSPs) launched by the World Bank, in cooperation with other donors, including the Community
and its Member States, is support to basic social services.

C 136 E/12

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

8.5.2001

The Commission has already significantly increased its financial commitments to basic education in
developing countries over the past years, especially in Asia, in the Mediterranean countries, and in the
African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries (within the Lome framework).

The policy statement on Community development co-operation identifies, among the priority fields for
concentrating Community activities, support to macroeconomic policies with an explicit link to poverty
reduction strategies and in particular sector programmes in social areas (health and education).

The newly concluded partnership agreement between the Community and the ACP presents support to
social policies as one of its major strategic elements, together with support to economic growth and
productive sectors, in the overall context of poverty reduction. Support to basic education, to broader
access to disadvantaged groups, especially women, and to better quality, with adequate financial resources,
is clearly underlined in the new partnership agreement.

(2001/C 136 E/012)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2223/00

by BØatrice Patrie (PSE) to the Commission

(3 July 2000)

Subject: LMO rules

Living Genetically Modified Organisms (LMOs) are now a scientific reality. Following experiments on mice
in 1982, research was carried out on fish in 1994 and some 100 000 transgenic salmon, called
(cid:145)AquAdvantage(cid:146), are now proliferating in Canada. The modifications to their genetic make-up enable
them to grow six times as large as their wild counterparts in a tenth of the time. A large number of such
experiments are being conducted in North America, as well as in the United Kingdom and China, with a
view to producing cheaper fish.

If marketing authorisation is granted, these fish could be available in European supermarkets as early as
2002. This raises serious ethical, social, public health and environmental questions.

Is the Commission aware of the problems relating to this type of research and breeding? Can we expect
sales and consumption of this type of product to be authorised?

Does the Commission intend to put forward rules governing research into and marketing of such LMOs,
along the same lines as the rules currently being established for GMOs?

Answer given by Mrs Wallstr(cid:246)m on behalf of the Commission

(26 September 2000)

Council Directive 90/220/EEC of 23 April 1990 on the deliberate release into the environment of
genetically modified organisms (GMOs) (1) covers release of live genetically modified organisms for both
experimental purposes and the placing on the market, which would include releases of genetically
engineered salmon. The scope of the Directive does not extend to non-viable GMOs or products that are
produced from but do not contain GMOs. As such, the Directive would not cover the import and placing
on the market of harvested (dead) salmon or fillets but their use as food would require authorisation under
Regulation (EC) No 258/97 of the Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 1997 concerning novel
foods and novel foods ingredients (2).

Applications for deliberate releases of GMOs under Directive 90/220/EEC require, as a pre-requisite,
a comprehensive assessment of risks to human health and the environment and are considered on a case-
by-case basis. For deliberate releases of fish, this would clearly include an assessment relating to the type of
environment (waters) in which they are intended to be released. An authorisation is only granted on the
basis that there is no reason to believe that the release will have an adverse effect on human health or the
environment under the conditions of consent.