WRITTEN QUESTION E-3430/00 by Marielle De Sarnez (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Town-twinning.
Date: 2000-11-07
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU financing, France, invitation to tender, twinning

C 235 E/4

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

21.8.2001

(2001/C 235 E/004)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3430/00

by Marielle De Sarnez (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(7 November 2000)

Subject: Town-twinning

In order to promote a Citizens(cid:146) Europe, appropriations are allocated to French local authorities wishing to
organise exchange programmes and town-twinning schemes with other local authorities in Europe.

However, the budget allocated to that type of programme was apparently exhausted in September. I should
therefore like to know, in detail, how many French local authorities were able to benefit from that subsidy
between 1 January and 15 September 2000 (final date for applications set out
in a Commission
communication dated 10 February 2000) and the amount involved.

I should also like to know what changes will be made to the procedure in order to make it more selective.

Finally, I should like to know whether the Commission is intending to give priority in 2001 to those
authorities which forwarded duly completed application forms but which were rejected in 2000 for lack of
funds.

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(7 December 2000)

To date the Commission has accepted 320 applications submitted by French local authorities for
exchanges organised in 2000 between citizens from twinned towns. The total amount awarded to these
host towns is € 1,2 million.

In addition, 445 local authorities in France submitted applications which were approved as guest towns.
The total amount awarded in transport expenses is € 1,3 million.

Furthermore, the Commission is in fact introducing a new procedure which should help to increase
effectiveness. An information meeting on this new call for proposals procedure was held on 23 October
2000; representatives of
the national
associations of the 15 Member States, the central and eastern European countries, Malta, Cyprus and
Turkey, the United Towns Organisation (UTO) and the Assembly of European Regions were invited so that
all points of view could be examined. The new call for proposals and the relevant forms can be found on
the Europa site at the following address:
http//europa.eu.int/comm/dg10/towntwin/index_

the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR),

Finally, for procedural reasons and due to the annual nature of the budget, projects for which applications
submitted in 2000 were rejected cannot be taken into consideration for 2001. For twinning projects to
take place in 2001, the interested parties must submit applications in accordance with the new procedures
in force for 2001.

(2001/C 235 E/005)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3484/00

by Timothy Kirkhope (PPE-DE) to the Council

(13 November 2000)

Subject: Charter of Fundamental Rights

Following the informal meeting of the Council in Biarritz on 13/14 October 2000 and the discussions that
took place on the second day thereof, would the Council please confirm that it was always its intention
that the Charter of Fundamental Rights should be legally justiciable? In the event of this not being
achieved, what status in legal/constitutional terms would it wish the Charter to have?