WRITTEN QUESTION E-3851/00 by Paulo Casaca (PSE) to the Council. Early retirement.
Date: 2000-12-20
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European official, European social policy, early retirement

19.6.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 174 E/165

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(7 February 2001)

The Commission would like to draw the Honourable Member(cid:146)s attention to the long and distinguished
record of the MEDIA and MEDIA II Programmes and to the MEDIA Plus Programme, which has started on
1 January 2001. These programmes, with a mixture of subsidies and loans, are very firmly targeted at
companies, filmmakers and films which are produced for the widest possible European and international
market. The programme(cid:146)s efforts are particularly aimed at achieving the widest possible circulation for
European films outside of their countries of origin.

Recently the MEDIA II Programme supported some 287 of the 457 European films in exhibition in 1999.
The success of the selection and targeting of the programme is reflected in the fact that while these 287
films represented 62 % of the total number of European films shown in Europe in 1999, they achieved
more than 90 % of the total admissions in the period.

the Media and the Media II programmes shows the widely divergent national
The experience of
characteristics of European film production. Both Babette(cid:146)s Feast (Babettes g(cid:230)stebud, 1987) and Belle
Epoque (1992) were recognised international successes following their winning of an Oscar award. Despite
this, both films were only modest box office successes while a more recent winner, La Vita e Bella, has
dwarfed all four films cited by the Honourable Member at the international Box Office. Other recent
successes such as Todo Sobre Mi Madre, Asterix & Obelix, Festen, Breaking the Waves, Secrets & Lies, and
the Fifth Element have all enjoyed strong support from the MEDIA Programme.

fall within the scope of the
Agreements between distributors and cinema owners can,
competition rules where they have a restrictive impact on competition. The practice described by the
Honourable Member is capable of falling within this category but the Commission does not dispose of
sufficient factual information to draw any conclusion as to whether or not it actually does. In particular,
the Commission is unaware of how widespread the practice is and has received no complaints.

in principle,

(2001/C 174 E/173)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3851/00

by Paulo Casaca (PSE) to the Council

(20 December 2000)

Subject: Early retirement

It has been reported in the press that, at the Ecofin meeting of 8 November, the conclusions of an interim
report drawn up by the Economic Policy Committee ((cid:146)EPC progress report on the impact of ageing
populations on public pensions systems(cid:146), Ecofin 303, 12791/00) were noted and endorsed. One of those
conclusions is that, throughout the European Union, the retirement age will have to be raised and early-
retirement schemes will have to be restricted if pensions schemes are to be sustainable.

This statement had enormous public impact, especially since most of the European (and in particular the
Portuguese) press described it as coming from the (cid:145)European Union(cid:146).

On 22 November I received a Communication Communication (SEC(2000) 2025 final) which contains a
proposal for a Council regulation on early-retirement schemes within the Commission.

To my horror, the purpose of the proposal is not to restrict Commission officials(cid:146) existing access to early-
retirement schemes but, rather, to promote an early-retirement scheme for 600 officials.

C 174 E/166

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

19.6.2001

In view of the above, would the Council answer the following questions?

(a) Does the Council endorse the above report?

(b) At the Ecofin meeting, did the Commission express any disagreement with the report?

(c)

Is it true that the Commission was not represented on the working party which approved the report?

(d) Does the Council not consider that contradictory statements and proposals such as these undermine

the credibility of the European Institutions?

Reply

(12 March 2001)

On 7 November 2000, the Council examined the first progress report by the Economic Policy

1.
Committee (EPC) on the impact of ageing populations.

This report states that, on the assumption of a continuation of the present demographic and macro-
economic tendencies, in the majority of Member States the effects of ageing over a time projection until
2050 is expected to add roughly 3 to 5 % of GDP to pension expenditure.

The EPC identifies several possible ways in order to control this foreseeable rise in public expenditure for
pensions namely:

(cid:129) increases in retirement age, especially in early retirement schemes,

(cid:129) increases in labour participation rates, especially amongst women,

(cid:129) measures designed to increase continued participation in the workforce of workers over 50 years of

age,

(cid:129) further reduction of public debt so that budgetary surpluses and decreases in interest payments on

public debt would balance expected increases in pension expenditure,

(cid:129) measures conducive to higher economic growth than presently.

The Council and the Commission representative recognised the relevancy of this first report of the EPC, in
which both the Community and Member States are represented, and of its main findings.

The Council asked the EPC to continue its work on the issue and to extend the scope of its work to
taxation aspects of pensions and increased health expenditure from public funding caused by ageing
populations.

The Council will periodically review the issue in the light of the further work of the EPC.

2.
As for the early retirement scheme proposed by the Commission in the framework of its reorganisa-
tion and restructuring, the Council will examine this proposal on its own merits when it will be formally
submitted by the Commission.

(2001/C 174 E/174)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3853/00

by Daniel Varela Suanzes-Carpegna (PPE-DE) to the Council

(20 December 2000)

Subject: Enlargement and fisheries

After two years of negotiations with the applicant countries in the Luxembourg Group (Poland, Hungary,
the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Estonia and Cyprus) and the start of negotiations with the Helsinki Group