WRITTEN QUESTION E-3150/00 by Olle Schmidt (ELDR) to the Commission. EU funding to combat child sex tourism.
Date: 2000-10-06
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: eligibility criteria, prostitution, sexual tourism

C 151 E/80

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

22.5.2001

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(9 November 2000)

The Commission demonstrated to all concerned, including the Polish government, its clear stance with
respect to the Holocaust and the events which took place, when the Commission President marked the
beginning of his term of office by visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau.

In addition the Commission monitors the progress made by Poland as it moves towards accession to the
Union, and is particularly attentive to both the establishment of adequate legislative frameworks and their
effective application.

In respect of the case raised by the Honourable Member, it has been noted by the Commission that in May
1999 in Poland legislation was adopted regarding the protection of former Nazi concentration camp sites.
This forbids public meetings, commercial activities and adjacent construction. It is understood that this
legislation clarifies the issue of the areas around the camps, by defining authoritatively the grounds of the
Auschwitz-Birkenau site and the surrounding buffer zone, which henceforth shall be preserved in
perpetuity as a memorial.

From the case raised, it appears that there were many other buildings associated with the functioning of
the camp networks and many of them are some distance away and even several kilometres from the main
sites.

To address such issues, and taking into consideration that such foundation legislation is in place, the most
appropriate approach would therefore be to first seek a remedy at the national level by the appropriate
means.

(2001/C 151 E/090)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3150/00

by Olle Schmidt (ELDR) to the Commission

(6 October 2000)

Subject: EU funding to combat child sex tourism

The Commission has repeatedly stated that action to combat child sex tourism is an important issue. The
Swedish section of ECPAT, the international organisation that works to combat the commercial sexual
exploitation of children, received funding from the Commission for the period November 1999 to October
2000 to enable it to draw up, along with the travel industry, a code of conduct to help combat child sex
tourism. The funding officially ends in October, but Commissioner Erkki Liikanen wrote in April 2000
that there were high expectations for the project, so that ECPAT assumed it would continue to receive
financial support for its project. In his letter, Commissioner Liikanen also stated that the Commission
would continue to give priority to measures designed to combat child sex tourism. Throughout the
summer, ECPAT tried to contact the Commission, albeit without success, to get confirmation that funding
would continue. On 5 September, however, ECPAT was told that its funding was to be discontinued.

Will the Commission therefore state:

1. How, and on the basis of what long-term plans, it prioritises the projects to be supported?

2. What contact it has had with the organisations during the current project?

3. How NGOs, which are often dependent on grants, are to be able to plan and carry out their activities
if it takes decisions on whether or not to continue funding at short notice (in this case, it took a
decision in September concerning a funding period due to start in November)?

22.5.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 151 E/81

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(21 November 2000)

In spring and summer 2000 the Commission carried out a global review of its activities and human
1.
resources. On 26 July 2000 the Commission concluded that it was more than 1200 posts short of being
able to manage all its tasks.

In the past there has been a tendency for executive tasks of the Commission to increase, and political and
legislative tasks to decrease. In July, the Commission decided to reverse this trend, and reduce its executive
tasks in order to have sufficient human resources for political, legislative and conceptual tasks. For a wide
range of sectors this means reduction and phasing out activities. In particular, activities financed by small
budget lines will be reduced because they are very intensive in terms of human resources.

The information and awareness raising campaigns against sex tourism have had their important role to
play. However, in the context of lack of resources and in line with the general trend of cutting small
budget lines, these activities will be phased out. The Commission will not make new financing commit-
ments next year. Nevertheless, the Commission will do its best to use appropriations for these activities in
this year(cid:146)s budget.

2.
In this case, besides the few contacts the Commission had with ECPAT according to the rules in the
framework of the call for proposals published in May 1999, such as for example the examination of the
interim report, ECPAT requested on 7 October 2000 an extension of
the project duration until
31 December 2000. The Commission accepted this extension. Furthermore, an ECPAT representative
attended a meeting on 10 October 2000, during which the Commission explained to interested organisa-
tions the possibilities of further Community assistance for activities to combat child sex tourism.

Beneficiaries of Community grants implement the corresponding projects without further assistance by the
Commission. During the implementation, contacts between the beneficiaries and the Commission may be
established according to specific needs. The beneficiaries are usually bound to produce regular reports
about the progress achieved and the results.

3.
The annual nature of the Community budget only allows financial commitments on a yearly basis,
with relatively short notice. Good management of the Community(cid:146)s scarce resources requires careful
selection of activities to be supported. This does not allow any financing to be guaranteed before the
relevant procedures have been concluded.

(2001/C 151 E/091)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3153/00

by Niels Busk (ELDR) to the Commission

(2 October 2000)

Subject: Blacklisting

Council Regulation 1469/95/EEC (1) and Commission Regulation 745/96/EEC (2) call for the blacklisting of
undertakings and individuals on the grounds of suspicion alone.

Will the Commission explain the reasons for this and how it intends to guarantee confidentiality to the
undertakings concerned?

How does the Commission intend to compensate companies and individuals unjustifiably placed on such
blacklists?

(1) OJ L 145, 29.6.1995, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 102, 25.4.1996, p. 15.