WRITTEN QUESTION E-1606/01 by Juan Naranjo Escobar (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Student numbers in universities.
Date: 2001-06-01
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: continuing education, education statistics, number of pupils, school-working life relations, student, university, vocational training

C 115 E/4

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

16.5.2002

is true that the SNCB was present when this agreement was concluded, it was acting in its capacity as the
owner of the land involved in order to provide those producing the designs with certain technical
information concerning access to the station. The SNCB’s involvement was not therefore that of either a
contracting authority or a client. Nor will it be involved in financing the designs in question.

Since therefore this was an agreement concluded between two legal persons under private law, to which
the SNCB was not party, Council Directive 92/50/EEC of 18 June 1992 relating to the coordination of
procedures for the award of public service contracts (1) was not applicable in this case.

(1) OJ L 209, 24.7.1992.

(2002/C 115 E/004)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1606/01

by Juan Naranjo Escobar (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(1 June 2001)

Subject: Student numbers in universities

In recent years, European universities have seen a gradual decrease in student numbers, to the point where
some are now experiencing negative growth.

So far, this reduction has had a greater impact on degree studies, and has hit State universities hardest, but
in the future it could lead to fewer jobs for teachers as a whole.

This situation reflects the falling birth rate and the increasing tendency of young people to follow studies
that are vocational in nature, rather than the kind of courses offered by universities.

Can the Commission confirm the existence of such trends in undergraduate and postgraduate university
education throughout the European Union? If so, does the Commission consider it necessary to give higher
prominence to vocational training for those students wishing to learn a particular profession? If these
trends are confirmed, how does the Commission intend to tackle the changes occurring in the university
sector?

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(3 September 2001)

The Commission bases its statistical analysis at European level on the statistics available from Eurostat. The
most recent data available to Eurostat on the number of students enrolled in tertiary education relate to the
academic year 1998/1999.

The Eurydice publication ‘Key data on education in Europe 1999/2000’ was published in the year 2000
based on Eurostat statistics. It covers the period from 1975 to 1997. This is the most recent Europe-wide
analysis of the number of students enrolled in tertiary education. A striking finding from the Eurydice
study is the fact that the number of students in tertiary education has more than doubled over the last 20
years. The increase was particularly rapid in Greece, Spain, Ireland and Portugal. Only in France and the
Netherlands did the number of students in tertiary education tend to decrease slightly.

Eurostat statistics on the number of students in tertiary education for the academic year 1998/1999
confirms this trend in increases in student numbers, even for France, which previously showed a decrease.

The number of students in higher education institutions is very much dependent on the system of higher
education in the various Member States. Selection procedures and limits on the numbers of places
available, such as the ‘numerus clausus’ system, are factors which affect the size of the student population.
One of the reasons for independent selection procedures is consideration of labour market needs, but
many other variables have an influence as well.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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Finally, recent trends in higher education in Europe to promote a Life Long Learning perspective and more
openness among higher education institutions to the needs of new groups of learners, challenge both the
structures of and access to higher education institutions. One of the results of this development may be an
increasing number of learners enrolled in tertiary education in Europe.

the Commission therefore cannot confirm the trends described by the Honourable
In this context,
Member. Nevertheless, the measures taken by the Commission to promote Life Long Learning, eLearning
and the links between education and employment will all help make higher education institutions more
open to society and to professional life.

(2002/C 115 E/005)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1615/01

by W.G. van Velzen (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(28 May 2001)

Subject:

‘Governments should have the right to stop state-owned foreign companies from taking over their
privatised companies’

Does this statement of the point of view of a Commissioner also accurately reflect the point of view of the
Commission with regard to the ‘renationalisation of privatised firms by foreign raiders’?

Does the Commission take the view that the takeover of a previously privatised public utility by a public
utility from another EU country and which is still in part controlled by the government of the EU Member
State involved (whether by means of a golden share or share ownership or another form of part-
ownership) must be prohibited? If so, on which legal provision of the Treaty of Amsterdam does the
Commission base its opinion?

If the Commission does not share this view, what possibilities does it have to reprimand a Member State
which has unjustly refused a transfrontier alliance or merger on the basis of those arguments? Is the
Commission prepared to take definite action against a Member State which has acted in that way?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(5 November 2001)

The appropriate Community law framework for dealing with acquisitions of holdings, notably in
1.
privatised companies, by companies from other Member States was outlined by the Commission in its
1997 Communication on certain legal aspects concerning intra-EU investment (1).

The specific issue of the acquisition of shareholdings in privatised companies by companies from
2.
other Member States which are wholly or partly owned by the State was raised against the background of
the ongoing process of liberalisation and,
in particular, the ‘asymmetrical’ opening up of Community
energy markets.

On 20 June 2001 the Commission held a discussion on the subject which confirmed the principles spelt
out in the 1997 communication and clarified a number of aspects.

The principle that direct investments should benefit from the free movement of capital and freedom

3.
of establishment was reiterated.

Since these are two fundamental freedoms laid down in the EC Treaty, the only admissible derogations are
those explicitly and exhaustively defined in the Treaty and those resulting from Court of Justice case law,
i.e. derogations on the grounds of ‘overriding reasons of general interest’, provided that the measures taken
comply with the principles of non-discrimination and proportionality. In this context, the Commission
confirmed the position it had taken when examining a specific case in which, in the very first stage of a
privatisation, when the State still retained control of the company, a temporary limitation on shareholdings
by public enterprises, in accordance with clearly defined economic policy objectives and under conditions
that were precise, objective, non-discriminatory and determined in advance, was found to be in conformity
with the Treaty.