WRITTEN QUESTION E-0595/01 by Theresa Villiers (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Ethnic minorities.
Date: 2001-03-01
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, European official, competition (EU), ethnic group, parliamentary election

13.11.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 318 E/81

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(30 May 2001)

The Working Time Directive (1) (Article 7) stipulates that Member States should take the necessary
1.
measures to ensure that every worker is entitled to paid annual leave of at least four weeks. However, the
Directive does not specify whether bank holidays should be included in this period of annual leave.

It could be argued that the term (cid:145)leave(cid:146) should be interpreted as time off during which the worker would
otherwise be supposed to be at work. Furthermore, bank holidays are supposed to be days on which
workers do not work (cid:129) it is not a matter of choice for them. Finally, it should be noted that, in quite
a number of Member States, bank holidays or public holidays are not counted as part of annual leave.

The Honourable Member may also be interested in reading the Commission(cid:146)s report on the state of
implementation of the Working Time Directive, adopted on 1 December 2000 (2).

The Working Time Directive does not allow Member States to exempt small firms from its scope. In
2.
accordance with Article 137 (ex Article 118) of the EC Treaty, the text of the Directive takes due account
of the aim of avoiding the imposition of administrative, financial and legal constraints in a way which
would hold back the creation and development of small and medium-sized undertakings.

(1) Council Directive 93/104/EC of 23 November 1993 concerning certain aspects of the organization of working time

(OJ L 307, 13.12.1993).

(2) COM(2000) 787 final.

(2001/C 318 E/084)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0595/01

by Theresa Villiers (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(1 March 2001)

Subject: Ethnic minorities

1. What percentage of the workforce of the European Commission comes from ethnic minorities?

2. What percentage of employees in the top 3 grades of seniority comes from ethnic minorities?

3. What ethnic monitoring does the Commission carry out? How long has the Commission had an
ethnic monitoring policy?

Are there any policies or rules, written or unwritten, which exclude members of ethnic minorities

4.
from particular positions or levels of seniority?

5. What is the function, chain of command and funding source for the EU Monitoring Centre on
Racism and Xenophobia in Vienna? What is the staffing structure in this organisation? How many of its
employees are from ethnic minorities?

6. What steps has the Commission taken to inform members of ethnic minorities of

(cid:129) the work and functions of the EU

(cid:129) employment opportunities with the EU institutions?

7. What steps are being taken to ensure the participation of ethnic minorities in the election of MEPs?

C 318 E/82

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

13.11.2001

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(16 May 2001)

1., 2. and 3.
The Commission does not collect or maintain any data on the basis of ethnic origin in
relation to its staff. The Commission is not in a position, therefore, to indicate what percentage of its
workforce comes from ethnic minorities, or what percentage in the top three grades of seniority comes
from these groups.

There are no rules, written or otherwise, which exclude members of ethnic minorities from any
4.
position or level of seniority. Staff Regulations expressly provide that officials are entitled to equal
treatment without reference, direct or indirect, to their racial origins.

5.
The Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia in Vienna was established by Council Regulation
No 1035/97 of 2 June 1997 (1). Its primary objective is to provide the Community and its Member States
with objective, reliable and comparable data on the phenomena of racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism,
in order to help Governments when they take action or determine measures within their respective spheres
of competence.

The Centre is an independent body ruled by a Management Board composed of independent persons
appointed by each Member State, by the European Parliament and by the Council of Europe.
A Commission representative also sits on the Board. A Director appointed by the Management Board for
a renewable period of four years heads the Centre.

The Centre(cid:146)s revenue is provided by a subsidy from the Community, entered under a specific heading in
the general budget of the European Communities (Commission(cid:146)s section); for 2001 the budget line in
question is B5-809 and the budget is 5,3 Million €.

As is the case for the Commission, the Centre does not collect or maintain any data on the basis of ethnic
origin in relation to its staff. The staff of the Centre is subject to the Staff Regulations mentioned above.

6.
In the context of Reform, the Commission intends to give greater profile to the recruitment of
members of ethnic minorities to its staff (2). As Member States are the principal source of candidates, the
Commission proposes, with the aid of the Member States, to determine how to increase ethnic diversity at
recruitment stage. Access to future competitions by minority communities will also be improved by
publicity focused at
increased contact with minority groups and
recruitment sources in the Member States.

regional and local newspapers,

7.
In relation to elections for the European Parliament, the Honourable Member is invited to refer to the
Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the application of Directive
93/109/EC (3), and the Communication from the Commission on the application of the Directive for the
June 1999 (4), where the principles governing participation are
European Parliament elections of
enunciated. Clearly, political parties which select candidates for Parliamentary elections have the relevant
decision making powers on issues such as the character, qualifications, gender, age and ethnic origin of
candidates.

(1) OJ L 151, 10.6.1997.
(2) See Consultative Document on Equal Opportunities (SEC/(2000) 2085/4, adopted by the Commission on

29 November 2000.

(3) COM(97) 731 final of 07.01.1998.
(4) COM(2000) 843 final of 18.12.2000.

(2001/C 318 E/085)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0600/01

by Heide R(cid:252)hle (Verts/ALE) and Gabriele Stauner (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Forwarding of highly confidential information by the Commission

(1 March 2001)

Under the framework agreement of 6 July 2000 between Parliament and the Commission, the Commission
can provide selected officers or bodies of Parliament with certain information classified by the Commission
as highly confidential, which may not be passed on to other Members of Parliament.