WRITTEN QUESTION E-3293/01 by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Commission support for Team Europe Junior.
Date: 2001-11-28
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Commission, association, education, financial aid, use of aid, young person

C 147 E/146

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

20.6.2002

(2002/C 147 E/153)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3293/01

by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(28 November 2001)

Subject: Commission support for Team Europe Junior

Team Europe Junior
Commission support.

(TEJ)

is a non-profit, non-party political organisation formed in 1992 with

Can the Commission say what financial and other support, e.g. assistance with marketing etc., it gave TEJ
in 2000 and 2001?

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(18 January 2002)

The only Team Europe Junior that is currently operational and supported by the Commission is based in
the Netherlands.

The Dutch Junior Team Europe is a team of students that teaches different European themes in secondary
schools. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1990 by Europa Centrum, a Dutch foundation in the field of
youth and education.

Each year, a new team of about 30 students is selected and trained to fulfil the demand that comes from
teachers all over the Netherlands. The team members each draw on their own experiences of working,
studying or living in a European country and they are only slightly older than the pupils. Their objective is
to inform young people about the Union and to foster dialogue. The lessons are created by the foundation
‘Europa Centrum’ and provide an efficient and effective means of communicating with young people.

This year the scheme has been expanded to include the participation of Members of the Parliament in the
lessons.

The foundation ‘Europa Centrum’ has developed plans to establish similar Junior Teams in other European
countries. In 2000 they set up partnerships with organisations in Austria, Poland and Latvia with the aim
of setting up a Junior Team in those countries. However, financing through the Youth programme was not
possible. Through the Dutch Representation contacts have been made with Directorate General
Enlargement and delegations in candidate countries in order to pursue this idea.

Financial support given by the Commission:

< Total costs of the project in the Netherlands: € 85 000,- per school year,

< Junior Team 2000-2001: € 14 000, a once-only-grant by Directorate General Education and Culture,

< Junior Team 2001-2002: € 24 295,39, part of the costs undertaken by the Dutch Representation of

the Commission.

(2002/C 147 E/154)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3297/01

by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(28 November 2001)

Subject: Battery hen ban in Sweden

A debate has ensued in Sweden as to whether Swedish rules on battery hens may constitute an obstacle to
trade for the rest of the EU. The question under discussion is whether Sweden should have notified the
Commission of the new exemption rules introduced in 1997 before introducing them. That would have
meant ‘freezing’ the rules for three months during which the various Member States could have expressed
their views before the rules were adopted in Sweden.