WRITTEN QUESTION E-3290/01 by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Social inclusion in Member States.
Date: 2001-11-27
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU Member State, EU initiative, EU programme, European Social Fund, equal treatment, job access, marginalisation, poverty, social rehabilitation

6.6.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 134 E/215

On the basis of the amount allocated, will the Commission also provide its assessment of this system,
especially with regard to the competitiveness of companies using starch, farmers’ yield and compensation
for the structural disadvantages obtaining in the starch sector?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(18 December 2001)

The Commission would like to point out that the budget of € 900 million mentioned by the Honourable
Member for 2000 includes expenditure of € 500 million on direct area-aid for cereals, as the Court of
Auditors Special Report indicates in Point I of the Summary and in Table 2 of the Annex (1).

A proposal for a Council Regulation on a common organisation of the market in potatoes (2) was
presented by the Commission in 1992. This Commission draft, revived in 1995 and 1996 by the Spanish
and Irish Presidencies of the Council respectively, was not adopted because of the opposition of some
Member States.

The Commission is sending direct to the Honourable Member and to Parliament’s Secretariat the requested
information on potato starch expenditure by Member State. As the beneficiaries are paid by the paying
agencies of the Member States, which are in turn reimbursed based on their monthly declarations by
budget heading,
the Commission does not have the information on beneficiaries requested by the
Honourable Member.

The Commission has ordered an evaluation of the potato and cereals starch sector, which is still under
way. The Commission expects the final report to be ready within the next few months and, once it has
drawn its own conclusions from the report, it will then be able to present its own evaluation of the
scheme.

(1) Court of Auditors Special Report No 8/2001 of 1 October 2001 concerning refunds for the production of potato

and cereals starch and potato starch aid.

(2) OJ C 333, 17.12.1992.

(2002/C 134 E/228)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3290/01

by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(27 November 2001)

Subject: Social inclusion in Member States

What EU funds are available to promote social inclusion in Member States? How much has been allocated
and under what budget line(s) do they fall?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(21 January 2002)

The European Social Fund (ESF) is an important source of Community funds to promote social inclusion in
Member States. The ESF Regulation (1) outlines the five policy fields through which ESF will support the
development of the labour market and human resources. One of these policy fields aims to ‘promote equal
opportunities for all in accessing the labour market, with particular emphasis on those exposed to social
exclusion’. Following negotiations between the Commission and Member States, over € 9 billion of ESF will
go to promote social inclusion across the Community during the period 2000-2006.

C 134 E/216

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

6.6.2002

Funded by the ESF, the Community Initiative EQUAL will test new ways of tackling discrimination and
inequality experienced by those in work and those looking for a job. EQUAL will co-finance activities in all
Member States. The Community will contribute around € 3 billion to EQUAL over the period to 2006. As
with all ESF spending this will be ‘matched’ by national funding. EQUAL differs from the European Social
Fund mainstream programmes in its innovative dimension and in its emphasis on active co-operation
between Member States.

In addition, the programme of Community action to encourage co-operation between Member States to
combat social exclusion may provide financial support to transnational activities of exchange of good
practice in the field of social inclusion. This programme is part of the open method of coordination to
combat social exclusion launched at the Lisbon Council in March 2000. It was agreed by the Parliament
and the Council at conciliation on 18 September 2001 and the decision was published in the Official
Journal on 12 January 2002. It starts on 1 January 2002. Its budget amounts to € 75 million over five
years (2002-2006). It is composed of three strands: improving the understanding of social exclusion and
poverty; organising policy co-operation and mutual learning in the light of the national action plans to
combat poverty and social exclusion; developing the capacity of actors to address social exclusion and
poverty at Community level.

(1) Regulation (EC) no. 1784/1999 of the Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 1999 on the European Social Fund,

OJ L 213, 13.8.1999.

(2002/C 134 E/229)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3291/01

by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(27 November 2001)

Subject: Funding for sport

What EU funds are available for developing sport in Member States? How much has been allocated and
under what budget line(s) do they fall?

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(21 December 2001)

There are no EU funds allocated specifically to the development of sport in the Member States. The only
appropriations allocated directly to sport are for the prevention of doping. The sum for 2001 is
EUR 5 million and this is provided under budget heading B3-2020.

However, in general, some sports projects may be financed by other Community funds, provided they
meet the award criteria for these funds. For example, the Socrates and Leonardo programmes, the
Framework Programme for research and technological development and indeed the Structural Funds have
financed projects related to sport, as long as the projects are in line with the general objectives of these
programmes. Thus, under the Socrates programme, a school sports project to promote the Olympic ideals
has just received EUR 195 215 of funding.

However, to date no general record has been compiled of sports projects funded by the Community. An
inventory of this kind would be difficult because a significant percentage of these projects are carried out
at the initiative of the Member States.