WRITTEN QUESTION E-3422/01 by Gerard Collins (UEN) to the Council. The Belgian Presidency and actions for SMUs and micro-undertakings.
Date: 2001-12-13
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Belgium, EU aid, Presidency of the Council of the EU, financial aid, micro-enterprise, small and medium-sized enterprises

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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20.6.2002

Does the Commission have any information as to the total number of Pomaks living in Europe? What is
the Commission’s view of the possibility of teaching the Pomak language in schools in the areas in which
Pomaks live? What is the Commission’s view of the fact that the Greek Ministry for Education requires
Pomak children to be taught Turkish, in addition to the official language, Greek, although they are neither
of Turkish origin nor do many wish to learn the language or be considered Turkish, as Turkish
propaganda would have it?

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(5 February 2002)

Respect for cultural and linguistic diversity is one of the cornerstones of the Union, now enshrined in
Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. In the Commission’s opinion, the rights of persons
belonging to minorities are part of the principles common to the Member States,
listed in the first
paragraph of Article 6 of the Treaty on European Union.

The Commission does not have any definite figures on the number of Pomak speakers in Europe. A study
of minority language communities in Spain, Portugal and Greece conducted on behalf of the Commission
in 1988 by Miquel Siguan of the University of Barcelona (1) indicated that an estimated 27 000 Pomak
speakers lived in Greece in 1971, and this would appear to tally with other estimates, which range from
20 000 to 30 000.

Any language can be taught in schools. However, article 149 of the EC Treaty provides that that action by
the Community in the field of education must fully respect ‘the responsibility of the Member States for the
content of teaching and the organisation of education systems and their cultural and linguistic diversity’.

In its own sphere of competence, the Union has taken action to promote linguistic diversity. One of the
principal objectives of the European Year of Languages 2001, a joint initiative of the Union and the
Council of Europe, was to raise awareness of linguistic diversity and the importance of language learning.
In addition to a Europe-wide information campaign, the Union has also financed a wide variety of projects
promoting the aims of the year, many of which involve regional and minority languages. The Union also
cofinances the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages and the Mercator information network whose
purpose is to disseminate information on and raise awareness of the regional and minority languages of
Europe.

(1) Linguistic Minorities in the European Union: Spain, Portugal and Greece, OPOCE, Luxembourg, 1990, ISBN 92-

826-0375-X.

(2002/C 147 E/181)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3422/01

by Gerard Collins (UEN) to the Council

(13 December 2001)

Subject: The Belgian Presidency and actions for SMUs and micro-undertakings

Will the Council indicate the measures it has taken under the Belgian Presidency aimed at promoting the
development of small and medium-sized undertakings and micro-undertakings during the last six months,
in particular those of advantage to less-developed and island regions, and will it state what initiatives in
this area will need to be further considered during the Spanish Presidency?

Reply

(18 March 2002)

1.
In line with the conclusions of the Lisbon European Council, the Belgian Presidency made SMEs, in
particular small enterprises and start-ups, a central concern. Under the Belgian Presidency numerous events

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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focusing on the role of SMEs were accordingly organised, including a conference on ‘Financing SMEs: the
European approach’ at Louvain-la-Neuve on 24 and 25 October 2001.

At the Energy/Industry Council meeting on 4 and 5 December 2001 the Council dealt with the

2.
specific problems of SMEs in various sets of conclusions:

E Council conclusions on the implementation of the Lisbon objectives in the area of enterprise policy, in

which the Council invited Member States to:

review the experience of those Member States that have had exemplary growth and productivity
performance since the mid-1990s, to see what lessons can be learned regarding ICT use and diffusion
and what actions have contributed to making easier and faster the uptake of ICT by European
enterprises, notably by SMEs,

E and invited Member States and the Commission to:

continue their work in the area of benchmarking enterprise policy, in particular in relation to SMEs,
and in producing the relevant Scoreboards.

E Council conclusions on SME access to finance, in which the Council invited the Commission to:

E encourage professionalism of the various players in the field of equity finance by identifying good

practices in the field of public and private training;

E facilitate contacts between banks, other financial providers and SMEs in order to draft a European
code of conduct between banks and SMEs and thus strengthen their understanding of each other,
and determine best practices for reducing the complexity of
the administrative procedures
involved in financing or government guarantees;

E measure on a regular basis SMEs’ access to finance;

E explore ways of reducing the informational asymmetries between capital supply and demand,
looking in particular at risk assessment methodologies that are accessible, transparent and suited
to SMEs’ requirements;

E explore ways to increase liquidity of capital markets;

E submit an initial assessment of progress in 2003.

E Council conclusions concerning State aid, in which Member States were invited, among other things,

to:

reorient aid towards horizontal objectives,
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

including cohesion and, where appropriate, small and

At the same meeting, the Council also noted information given by the Austrian delegation on the

3.
potential effects on SMEs’ access to finance of the new Basle Capital Accord due to be adopted shortly.

The Spanish Presidency has already planned to put an item on the European Charter for SMEs on the
4.
agenda of the Industry/Energy Council on 6 and 7 June 2002 as part of the follow-up to the conclusions
expected from the Barcelona European Council on 15 and 16 March 2002.

(2002/C 147 E/182)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3424/01

by Glyn Ford (PSE) to the Commission

(21 December 2001)

Subject: Funding from the Commission

In May 1998, the European Commission carried out an inquiry into the Migration News Sheet.