WRITTEN QUESTION E-2975/00 by Ioannis Souladakis (PSE) to the Council. Funding of European Union island regions.
Date: 2000-09-25
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: eligible region, island region

19.6.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 174 E/15

economic and social support offered to women varies enormously from one Member State to another, and
the situation in the Spanish state is particularly unfavourable in both legal and financial terms. The aid
provided in the Spanish state to families with large numbers of children is one-seventh of that granted in
France and one-ninth of that obtaining in Luxembourg.

In view of these circumstances,
is the Council considering any initiative, by joint agreement with the
Commission and Parliament, for the harmonisation of the legal conditions which affect the economic and
social dimensions of family life, with particular reference to women, and make it impossible or difficult for
women to have more children?

Reply

(8 March 2001)

The Council is aware of the demographic problems and the impact they may have on the job situation in
the future.

The Council would remind the Honourable Member that it has no responsibility in family policy matters;
however, it is considering ways of better reconciling professional and family life, especially in connection
with the monitoring of Member States(cid:146) implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action. That is why the
Council is preparing a set of conclusions on this issue.

In addition, the Lisbon European Council on 23 and 24 March 2000 recognised that it was important to
further all aspects of equal opportunities, including reducing occupational segregation, and making it easier
to reconcile working life and family life, in particular by setting a new benchmark for improved childcare
provision. It added that those measures should contribute, inter alia, towards increasing the number of
women in employment from an average of 51 % today to more than 60 % by 2010.

It was in that context that the Council adopted, on 29 June 2000, a Resolution on the balanced
participation of women and men in family and working life (1).

Furthermore, the Employment Guidelines 2000, approved by the Helsinki European Council on 10 and
11 December 2000, stress how important it is, in order to strengthen equal opportunities, for Member
including
States and the social partners to design,
affordable, accessible and high quality care services for children and other dependants, as well as parental
and other leave schemes. These points are confirmed in the proposed guidelines for 2001.

implement and promote family-friendly policies,

Finally, the social policy agenda approved by the Nice European Council contains an important section on
equality between men and women.

The Council is therefore aware of the problems of reconciling professional and family life raised by the
Honourable Member and is taking a number of measures under the powers conferred upon it by the
Treaty.

(1) OJ C 218, 31.7.2000, p. 5.

(2001/C 174 E/015)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2975/00

by Ioannis Souladakis (PSE) to the Council

(25 September 2000)

Subject: Funding of European Union island regions

In the first paragraph of the Commission(cid:146)s answer of 24 July 2000 to my Written Question No E-1738/
2000 (1) concerning the funding of European Union island regions, Commissioner Barnier states that the
Commission does not anticipate creating a legal basis for such funding, despite the provisions of the Treaty

C 174 E/16

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

19.6.2001

of Amsterdam. Acting within its sphere of responsibilities, however, and in particular the 2001 budget
guidelines, the European Parliament has decided to make such funding a budget priority, especially in view
It is
of the fact that implementation of the Amsterdam Treaty has already begun this year, 2000.
surprising, therefore, that while the Commission should take initiatives to implement the Treaties,
it
appears from its answer that it is at the very least indifferent towards a matter of major importance for the
development of certain regions of the EU.

What practical steps will the Council take, on the basis of a specific timetable, to create a legal basis for the
funding of EU island regions pursuant to the provisions of the relevant Treaties?

(1) OJ C 113 E, 18.4.2001, p. 38.

Reply

(8 March 2001)

1.
In its reply to the Honourable Member(cid:146)s Written Question E-1737/00 on the funding of
the European Union island regions, the Council already stated that in the context of economic and social
cohesion, the Structural Funds (cid:129) and in particular the ERDF (cid:129) are, in this connection, an important
instrument for action, having a positive effect on the growth and convergence of the island regions of the
European Union.

the

the

Under

Funds,

Structural

framework of

island regions

the new regulatory

2.
in
the European Union meeting the criteria of eligibility defined in the general Regulation may benefit from
Community financial help under Objective 1 (regions lagging behind in development) or Objective 2 (areas
undergoing social and economic conversion). The total budget of the Structural Funds for the period
2000-2006 amounts to € 195 billion at 1999 prices. More than 81 % of the overall budget is concentrated
on Objectives 1 and 2. Furthermore, the Council would remind the Honourable Member that, as regards
it should be emphasised that under Article 29(3)(a) of
the specific measures to which he refers,
Council Regulation No 1260/1999 laying down general provisions on the Structural Funds (1), where the
regions are located in a Member State covered by the Cohesion Fund, the Community contribution may
rise, in exceptional and duly justified cases, to a maximum of 80 % of the total eligible cost and to a
maximum of 85 % of the total eligible cost for the outermost regions and for the outlying Greek islands
which are under a handicap due to their distant location.

3.
The Council has not to date received any proposal from the Commission along the lines referred to
by the Honourable Member and cannot therefore give a more precise reply to the question. However, it
would remind the Honourable Member that, on the basis of Declaration No 30 annexed to the Amsterdam
Treaty, the Nice European Council confirmed the need for specific measures for the benefit of island
regions, in accordance with Article 158 of the TEC, in view of their structural handicaps, which impair
their economic and social development, within the limits of the budget resources available (point 55 of the
Presidency conclusions).

(1) OJ L 161, 26.6.1999.

(2001/C 174 E/016)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3083/00

by Daniela Raschhofer (NI) to the Commission

(2 October 2000)

Subject: PHARE programme

The PHARE programme was introduced to bring the Central and Eastern European countries closer to the
Union. Negotiations on accession by those countries are entering their final stages; the time consequently
has come to take stock of the impact of PHARE programme support operations.