WRITTEN QUESTION E-0527/01 by José García-Margallo y Marfil (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Stability pact in Spain.
Date: 2001-02-22
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Spain, budget deficit, civil servant, economic policy, pay freeze, stability pact

C 318 E/72

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

13.11.2001

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(21 May 2001)

Attaining full employment in Europe by 2010 calls for resolute and continued efforts by all actors
involved. The Commission agrees with the Presidency(cid:146)s wish to reaffirm our commitment to the strategy
and aims decided in Lisbon. Substantial progress is possible now thanks to the favourable macroeconomic
environment (cid:129) strong economic growth, low inflation and healthy public finances (cid:129) which create the
right conditions to move forward.

If we are to reach the objective of full employment by the end of the decade, new intermediate targets for
the overall employment rate and for women will help to focus policy action and to monitor progress.
Indeed, open policy coordination (cid:129) based on common quantified targets by a given deadline (cid:129) has proved
powerful as a political tool for enticing concrete action by national authorities and by social partners. The
experience in the Luxembourg Process is a good example and the European Council
in Lisbon
acknowledged it by extending this principle to other domains such as economic reform, social protection,
and education.

The Commission(cid:146)s communication (cid:145)Realising the European Union(cid:146)s potential: consolidating and extending
the Lisbon strategy(cid:146) (1) adopted on 7 February 2001 in view of the Stockholm European Council on
23-24 March 2001 goes one step further and calls on the European Council to agree intermediate targets
for employment rates across the Community for January 2005 of 67 % overall and 57 % for women.

Member States are also invited (cid:129) as established in Council Decision 2001/63/EC of 19 January 2001 on
Guidelines for Member States(cid:146) employment policies for 2001 (2) (cid:129) to consider setting national targets, in
consultation with the social partners, for raising the rate of employment, in order to contribute to the
Community-wide objectives of reaching by 2010 an overall employment rate of 70 % and of more than
60 % for women and in particular,
for significantly increasing the number of older people (55-64)
remaining in the workforce.

(1) COM(2001) 79 final.
(2) OJ L 22, 24.1.2001.

(2001/C 318 E/073)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0527/01

by JosØ Garc(cid:237)a-Margallo y Marfil (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(22 February 2001)

Subject: Stability pact in Spain

At their meeting of 24 January 2001, the College of Commissioners(cid:146) noting that the Irish budget for 2001
does not overlap with the major economic policy guidelines adapted by the Feira European Council of
19 June 2000, called on the Council to issue a recommendation urging Ireland to adjust its budgetary
policy to the major economic guidelines (Article 99(4) of the EU Treaty).

In Spain, the High Court recently handed down a sentence to the effect that the freezing of civil servants(cid:146)
salaries, included in the 1997 budget, was illegal, admonishing the administration to update these salaries
in accordance with CPI trends during the period in question.

It is estimated in some quarters that such an updating would mean disbursing almost 900 000 million
pesetas, which, claims Fuentes Quintana, would cause a considerable increase in inflation and a significant
imbalance of state finances, i.e. a substantial deviation from the major economic guidelines for Spain and,
more importantly, the recently updated Stability Plan.

Does the Commission intend to make a similar recommendation to the Council as it has done vis-(cid:224)-vis
Ireland, should the Spanish Government find itself now obliged to update the salaries in question?

13.11.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 318 E/73

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(10 May 2001)

The recent judgment of the Audiencia Nacional referred to is subject to appeal by the Spanish government.
Potentially, therefore, there might be no budgetary cost of implementing a judgment in this case. In any
event,
individual
expenditure categories. The budgetary impact of the final legal judgment on this particular issue would not
therefore be central to such an assessment.

fiscal policies as a whole and not

the Commission assesses national

the cost of

(2001/C 318 E/074)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0538/01

by Konstantinos Hatzidakis (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(16 February 2001)

Subject: Linking up schools to the Internet

Does the Commission have any comparative data about the link-up of schools to the Internet for each
Member State of the European Union? What measures has it taken so far to promote the link-up of
schools to the Internet and what steps does it intend to take in this area in future?

Answer given by Ms Reding on behalf of the Commission

(8 May 2001)

Linking schools to the Internet and providing them with computer and multimedia equipment are matters
for the Member States. However, at the Commission(cid:146)s initiative, the Member States have adopted very
ambitious objectives in this area as part of the eEurope action plan. These objectives include, in particular,
providing all schools with access to the Internet and to multimedia resources by the end of 2001 and
giving all pupils access to the Internet and to multimedia resources in their classrooms by the end of 2002.

In order to monitor the progress made towards achieving these objectives,
the Commission has
comparative data on the connection of schools to the Internet, broken down by Member State. It received
these data from the correspondents of the eLearning working party who were appointed by the Ministers
of Education of the Member States. They have been included in the report entitled (cid:145)Realising the European
Union(cid:146)s potential: consolidating and extending the Lisbon strategy(cid:146) that the Commission is sending directly
to the Honourable Member and to the Secretariat-General of Parliament (1).

It is important to stress, however, that these data merely indicate whether an Internet connection exists
and do not show the quality or level of service available or the extent to which it is actually used for
teaching. In order to improve decision-making on the integration of information and communication
technologies into schools, it is essential to have better data. To this end, the Education and Culture DG is
working in close cooperation with the Information Society DG and Eurostat to define better qualitative and
quantitative indicators in this area.

This cooperation concerns in particular the comparative evaluation of the performance of the Member
States in implementing the objectives of the eEurope action plan. The Council of Ministers has approved
a list of indicators, including in the area of education, which are being monitored by the Commission.

A Eurobarometer survey has been carried out on the use of ICTs (information and communication
in schools. The results, which show rapid progress, will soon be available on the
technologies)
Europa server.

The Information Society Technologies Programme is promoting research activities complementary to the
subject. As example, for the 2001, the action line (cid:145)e-learning for European Youth into the digital age(cid:146) is
expected to pull together a critical mass of key actors, from various European sectors, to research, develop