WRITTEN QUESTION E-3184/00 by Carlos Ripoll y Martínez de Bedoya (PPE-DE) to the Commission. EQUAL programme.
Date: 2000-10-10
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU employment policy, EU financing, EU programme, anti-discriminatory measure, labour market

8.5.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 136 E/201

Member States to reply to letters of formal notice has not been respected in this case and considering that
Greece from July 2000 was condemned by the Court of Justice to pay a daily penalty of € 20 000 under a
previous judgement on a similar case, the Commission is asked to specify why it has not taken any further
legal actions against France, and what causes all these delays.

(1) OJ L 103, 25.4.1979, p. 1.

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

(17 November 2000)

The Commission is pleased to inform the Honourable Member that, contrary to what was stated in the
written question, the Court of Justice(cid:146)s ruling in case C-166/97, Commission v. France, was handed down
in 1999 and not 1997, that the Commission sent a letter of formal notice to France in accordance with
Article 228 (formerly Article 171) of the EC Treaty in 1999, and not in 1997, and that the deadline for
replying to said letter of formal notice was met by the French authorities.

The Commission would inform the Honourable Member that the ruling is in the process of implementa-
tion by the French Government.

(2001/C 136 E/235)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3184/00

by Carlos Ripoll y Mart(cid:237)nez de Bedoya (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(10 October 2000)

Subject: EQUAL programme

At the meetings the Commission has held with officials from the various Member States regarding the
EQUAL programme, it has undertaken to submit a document laying down guidelines and formulas for the
partnerships under the programme.

1.
Given that the deadlines for the Community programme EQUAL are rather tight, when will the
Commission comply with its undertaking to submit a document on partnerships, since this is essential to
meet the objectives of the programme?

2. What criteria will be used for allocating Community aid if a partnership is submitted between an
objective 1 region and a region not covered by the objectives?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(21 November 2000)

The Commission recognises that the correct establishment of the development partnerships in all Member
States is extremely important for the good development of the EQUAL initiative. This question is the
subject of detailed discussions, both at bilateral and multilateral level, within the current negotiations with
Member States concerning the approval of the draft national Community initiative programmes. The
outcome of this close collaboration can already be seen in the establishment of (cid:145)questions and answers(cid:146),
which set out interpretation of and agreements on certain points of the initiative, including the partner-
ships.

It is true that, for certain Member States, it is also important to indicate clear criteria for determining the
type of financing in cases where a partnership project exists between an area in objective 1 and another
area outside that objective. The Commission will work within the aforementioned negotiations to ensure
that pragmatic rules are established in the Member States to settle this problem.