WRITTEN QUESTION E-1048/01 by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. Women's employment in the Spanish state.
Date: 2001-04-03
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Employment Strategy, European Social Fund, Spain, employment policy, labour market, woman

20.12.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 364 E/37

Reply

(27 September 2001)

In the area of asylum and migration the Council is pursuing the programme laid down in Title IV of the
Treaty and more particularly in Article 63, which lists the measures to be adopted by the Council in the
short term in this area.

(2001/C 364 E/042)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1048/01

by Camilo Nogueira RomÆn (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

Subject: Women(cid:146)s employment in the Spanish state

(3 April 2001)

As part of the coordination of Member States(cid:146) employment policies provided for in the Treaty of
Amsterdam, what measures has the Spanish state put forward to overcome its serious deficit as regards
female employment, which would require it to create 3,2 million additional jobs for women if it is to
achieve the goal set within the Union, i.e. a rate of 60 % for women(cid:146)s employment?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(7 June 2001)

The Lisbon European Council in March 2000 concluded that the average employment rate of women in
the Community should increase to more than 60 % by 2010 in support of the target of an overall
employment rate of 70 %, reflecting the long term goal of full employment. Progress since the Lisbon
European Council was reviewed in the Commission Communication (1)
to the Stockholm European
Council in March 2001, where agreement was reached on an intermediate target for a Community female
employment rate of 57 % by 2005.

The Employment Guidelines for 2001 (2) refer for the first time to the Lisbon targets in the horizontal
Guideline A. The Guidelines also indicate that Member States should consider setting national targets for
raising the rate of employment, in order to contribute to the overall European objective for 2010.

In considering the situation in Spain, the following factors have to be borne in mind:

(i)

the above mentioned targets are to be interpreted as Community-wide averages (cid:129) consequently the
figure of 3,2 million additional jobs has only an indicative value;

(ii) Member States(cid:146) individual contributions to the overall targets have to take into consideration their

different starting positions;

(iii) progress against the targets will be assessed in the forthcoming Joint Employment Report for 2001,

which will review the implementation of the Employment Guidelines for 2001.

In the annual assessment of the Spanish National Action Plan by the Commission and the Council in the
framework of the Joint Employment Report for 2000, it appeared that Spain had the lowest employment
rate for women in the Community (37,6 %) and the widest gender gap in employment (30,3 percentage
points). The Report also noted that, despite this, Spain had introduced only limited measures to improve
the situation. Therefore, the Report concluded that Spain should intensify its efforts to raise the female
employment rate.

Consequently, the Recommendations addressed to the individual Member States (3) in the context of this
most recent annual assessment of national employment policies, included a recommendation to Spain to
do more to support mainstreaming of equal opportunities in order to bring the female employment rate
up towards the average.

C 364 E/38

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

20.12.2001

The forthcoming Joint Employment Report for 2001, based on the analysis of National Action Plans on
employment to be submitted by Member States in May in line with Article 128 of the EC Treaty, will offer
an opportunity to review the progress achieved by Spain in response to the Employment Guidelines and
Recommendations.

The Joint Employment Report for 2000 and the Employment Guidelines for 2001, as well as the
Recommendations addressed to the individual Member States can be accessed on the internet: http://
europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/empl&esf/ees_en.htm. The Spanish National Action Plan for 2001
will be included at this site in due course.

The European Social Fund (ESF) is the Community(cid:146)s main financial tool for supporting the European
Employment Strategy. Concerning the fourth pillar of the Employment Guidelines (equal opportunities
between women and men), there are two types of initiatives to boost the participation of women in the
labour market: horizontal and specific initiatives. The former makes special reference to women in all
priority areas. The latter are only addressed to women: about € 124 millions (6 % of the budget concerning
Objective 3) and about € 232 millions (3 % of the budget concerning Objective 1) will be made available
through ESF over the period 2000-2006. This includes measures such as vocational training for women,
support for entrepreneurial projects, and initiatives which facilitate family and working life. The Fund will
also finance measures to combat occupational segregation and wage discrimination.

(1) Commission Communication (cid:145)Realising the European Union(cid:146)s Potential: consolidating and extending the Lisbon

strategy(cid:146) COM(2001) 79 final.

(2) Council Decision 2001/63/EC of 19 January 2001 on Guidelines for Member States(cid:146) employment policies for the

year 2001 (OJ L 22, 24.1.2001).

(3) Council Recommendation of 19 January 2001 on the implementation of Member States(cid:146) employment policies

(OJ L 22, 24.1.2001).

(2001/C 364 E/043)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1060/01

by John Corrie (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(5 April 2001)

Subject: Assistance for the development of church-based or other religious NGOs

What conditions does the Commission apply to requests for co-financing or other assistance for
development projects in developing countries submitted by church-based or other religious NGOs?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(23 July 2001)

The eligibility for co-financing under Budgetline B7-6000 of church (cid:129) based or other religious non-
governmental organisations (NGOs) is exactly the same as for all non governmental organisations and set
out in Council Regulation (EC) No 1658/98 of 17 July 1998 on co-financing operations with European
non-governmental development organisations (NGOs) in fields of interest to the developing countries (1) (cid:129)
Article 3:

The agents of cooperation eligible for co-financing under this Regulation shall be NGOs satisfying the
following conditions:

(cid:129) they must be constituted as autonomous non-profit-making organizations in a Member State in

accordance with the laws of that State,

(cid:129) they must have their headquarters in a Member State and the headquarters must be the main

center for decisions relating to the co-financed operations,

(cid:129) the majority of their funding must originate in Europe.