WRITTEN QUESTION E-2808/00 by Jeffrey Titford (EDD) to the Commission. Promoting a European Dimension in schools.
Date: 2000-09-05
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: United Kingdom, competence of the Member States, promotion of the European idea, teaching curriculum

22.5.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 151 E/17

The Commission recognises that the scale of the problem warrants an extraordinary response from the
international development community, backed by appropriate resources and effective delivery mechanisms.
The Commission wishes to provide support as part of a co-ordinated international response and is
exploring with partners possible future financing and support options.

The Commission provides extensive and increasing support to the health sector. Assistance to health, AIDS
and population programmes has risen from 1 % of Community aid in 1986 to 8 % in 1998. Overall
commitments in 1998 amounted to over € 700 million. Much of this support is directed to improve the
organisation, management and performance of national health systems including improvements to
tuberculosis control programmes. Increasingly such support is provided as sector or budget support rather
than targeted support to disease specific programmes.

is not possible to quantify future specific allocations to tuberculosis control

It
from the European
development fund and there is no specific budget line for tuberculosis. The most effective approach to
combat the problem will be through sustained support to health systems development complemented by
targeted action through a co-ordinated global approach as proposed above.

(1) COM(2000) 585 final.

(2001/C 151 E/020)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2808/00

by Jeffrey Titford (EDD) to the Commission

(5 September 2000)

Subject: Promoting a (cid:145)European Dimension(cid:146) in schools

Would Romano Prodi or the relevant Commissioner please answer the following questions:

1. How much money has been allocated to promote a (cid:145)European Dimension(cid:146) in British schools?

2. How will the European Union promote a (cid:145)European Dimension(cid:146)? Will it be by means of leaflets,

worksheets, books and conferences?

3.

In line with its oft-stated desire to promote (cid:145)Cultural Diversity(cid:146) and preserve the (cid:145)identity of the nation-
states(cid:146), how much money will be spent on promoting a British identity, as opposed to a (cid:145)European
identity(cid:146)?

4. Will parents be able to exclude their children from any education which (cid:145)promotes a European

Dimension(cid:146)?

5. How does the European Commission propose to advance its programme to (cid:145)develop a European
Dimension(cid:146) whilst at the same time fulfilling British legal requirements that education on controversial
issues must always be (cid:145)balanced(cid:146) (Education Act)?

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(5 October 2000)

The Commission would like to draw the attention of the Honourable Member to the fact that any
promotion of the European dimension in schools is within the competence, and the full responsibility, of
the Member States in accordance with Article 149 (ex-Article 126) of the Treaty, which states that:
(cid:145)The Community shall contribute to the development of quality education by encouraging cooperation
between Member States and,
if necessary, by supporting and supplementing their action, while fully
respecting the responsibility of the Member States for the content of teaching and the organisation of
education systems and their cultural and linguistic diversity(cid:146). This Article also sets out that Community
action is aimed, among other things, at (cid:145)developing the European dimension in education, particularly
through the teaching and dissemination of the languages of the Member States(cid:146).

C 151 E/18

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

22.5.2001

With a view to encouraging Community cooperation in education, Parliament and the Council have
adopted the Socrates (1) programme. In the field of school education, this programme contributes to
promoting a European dimension by supporting projects submitted by the Member States relating to
school partnerships between schools in different Member States, transnational projects in the field of
teacher training, and transnational networks focusing on current educational issues.

In this context:

1. No fixed amount of money is specifically allocated to promoting a European dimension;

2. The ways of promoting this dimension depend on the contents of the projects presented by the

Member States;

3. The transnational nature of projects ensures cultural diversity and respect for different national

identities;

4. and 5. The organisation of the education systems, including the contents of education and access to

schooling, come within the competence of the Member States.

(1) Decision No 253/2000/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 January 2000 establishing the

second phase of the Community action programme in the field of education (cid:145)Socrates(cid:146) (OJ L 28, 3.2.2000).

(2001/C 151 E/021)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2811/00

by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(4 September 2000)

Subject: Improving the standard of slaughterhouses in candidate Member States

In view of the impending accession of a number of Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs),
representatives of the EU(cid:146)s agricultural sector are establishing contacts with possible partners in those
countries. It appears that slaughterhouses in the CEECs rarely, if ever, comply with the strict European
standards. Representatives of the Belgian slaughterhouses also point out that a number of slaughterhouses
have had to be demolished because of their limited capacity. Provided the plans are modified, there is
sufficient expertise within the Union to rebuild the demolished slaughterhouses, if so requested by the
CEECs, thereby enabling them to be used again.

Can the Commission say whether it supports this approach (recommissioning of old and/or dismantled
slaughterhouses) and whether it is willing to provide financial aid for pilot projects for the (re-)construc-
tion and modification of these CEEC slaughterhouses so that they comply with European standards?

Supplementary answer
given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(5 December 2000)

The Commission does not have a view on the merits of re-commissioning of old or dismantled slaughter-
houses in the applicant countries mentioned by the Honourable Member. It does however consider that,
consistent with the provisions of Council Regulation (EC) No 1268/1999 of 21 June 1999 on Community
support for pre-accession measures for agriculture and rural development in the applicant countries of
central and eastern Europe in the pre-accession period (1), it is in the Community interest for support to be
given to applicant countries mentioned in that regulation to improve processing and marketing of
including meats. The Commission anticipates that in countries where there is a
agricultural products,
need for the (re-) construction and modification of slaughterhouses, Community aid will be granted so that
they comply with European standards, without it being limited to pilot projects.

(1) OJ L 161, 26.6.1999.