WRITTEN QUESTION P-3917/00 by Luciana Sbarbati (ELDR) to the Commission. Initiatives to mark the 400th anniversary of the death of Giordano Bruno.
Date: 2000-12-06
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU programme, Italy, cultural event, cultural policy

C 163 E/226

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

6.6.2001

(2001/C 163 E/266)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3917/00

by Luciana Sbarbati (ELDR) to the Commission

(6 December 2000)

Subject: Initiatives to mark the 400th anniversary of the death of Giordano Bruno

The year 2000 marks the fourth centenary of
the death of Giordano Bruno, who was a writer,
philosopher, scholar and professor. He was of significance not only for Italy (he taught at various
European universities, including those of Paris, London, Oxford, Prague, Wittenberg, Helmsted, Frankfurt,
Toulouse and Geneva), was a symbol of
freedom of thought, was open to dialogue and respected
pluralism.

He was persecuted because he was considered a heretic in his own country, was opposed by the Calvinists
and the Lutherans and, after spending some time in the prisons of the Inquisition, he was burnt at the
stake.

Europe, which is founded on the indivisible and universal values of human dignity, liberty, equality and
solidarity, cannot but celebrate this man, who was a victim of intolerance above all.

In the context of its various activities, does the Commission intend to devise an appropriate way of
celebrating this important figure, who so tragically embodied the European cultural ideal in his receptive-
ness to all cultures?

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(26 January 2001)

The Commission, while recognising the importance of Giordano Bruno, does not plan any specific
initiatives under the (cid:145)Culture 2000(cid:146) programme to celebrate the fourth centenary of his death.

For the year 2000, none of the projects selected under the (cid:145)Culture 2000(cid:146) programme involved an initiative
to celebrate the anniversary of the death of Giordano Bruno.

However, the Commission would point out to the Honourable Member that the call for proposals for the
(cid:145)Culture 2000(cid:146) programme for projects to be run in 2001 will be published in the Official Journal at the
beginning of this year and that cultural operators will therefore be free to submit projects to be considered
for funding under this programme and in accordance with its specifications.

(2001/C 163 E/267)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3918/00

by Carlos Coelho (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(6 December 2000)

Subject: Socrates/Erasmus mobility grants

Following my Written Question P-3174/00, to which I have already received a reply from the Commis-
sion, I should like to have the following point clarified.

The mobility of Erasmus students is organised on a decentralised basis and it is for the Member States to
determine their grant-allocation policy within the Commission(cid:146)s general guidelines. In its earlier reply the
Commission pointed out that, although it had encouraged the Member States to take the socio-economic
situation of students into account when deciding on the value of grants and to (cid:145)top up(cid:146) the funding
received from the Community using either national, regional or institutional sources, I have noticed that
some of the Member States follow this recommendation whilst others do not,
from which I have
concluded that there are variations in the practices adopted by the Member States.

I should therefore like to know what the differences are between each of the Member States.