WRITTEN QUESTION E-0201/02 by Carlos Ripoll y Martínez de Bedoya (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Use of official languages in information on Commission programmes.
Date: 2002-02-05
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Commission, Internet site, access to EU information, administration of the Institutions, dissemination of EU information, linguistic discrimination, official language, translation, use of languages

17.4.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 92 E/3

(2003/C 92 E/003)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3653/01

by Sebastiano Musumeci (UEN) to the Commission

(14 January 2002)

Subject: Creation of the Mediterranean Bank and Immigration Observatory

Recent press reports have claimed that the Commission President, Mr Romano Prodi, intends to propose
the creation of a ‘Mediterranean Bank’ (to support joint investment and development projects in the
Mediterranean area) and an ‘Immigration Observatory’ relating to the countries on the southern shore of
the Mediterranean.

Can the Commission state:

(cid:1) whether these reports are correct; and

(cid:1) how and when it intends to set up these institutions?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(12 April 2002)

The President of the Commission has announced a number of initiatives to strengthen relations with the
Mediterranean partners including a proposal to study the setting up of a Euro-Mediterranean Bank and of a
mechanism for the regular monitoring of migration flows.

Following this and at the request of the European Council at Laeken held in December 2001, the
Commission and Council examined the setting up of a new Euro-Mediterranean Bank. On the basis of
these reflections, the European Council held 15/16 March in Barcelona endorsed the setting up of a
reinforced Euro-Mediterranean Investment Facility within the EIB, complemented by the Euro-Medi-
terranean Partnership arrangement and a EIB representative office located in the area. It was also agreed
that one year after the launching of this Facility, a decision on the incorporation of an EIB majority owned
subsidiary dedicated to Mediterranean Partner Countries will be considered.

As regards migration, the Commission is actively engaged with the Council and the Mediterranean partners
on the elaboration of guidelines for a Euro-Mediterranean regional co-operation programme on Justice and
Home Affairs. This programme will contain a significant section on issues related to migration in which
the setting up of the proposed monitoring mechanism could be considered.

(2003/C 92 E/004)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0201/02

by Carlos Ripoll y Martínez de Bedoya (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(5 February 2002)

Subject: Use of official languages in information on Commission programmes

Those consulting the information made available by the Commission to Internet users at
the site
www.europa.eu.int will notice that for certain Community programmes, such as Comenius, Grundvig,
Tempus, Learning and others, information is only provided in English, while for other programmes such as
Leonardo the information exists only in English, French and German.

This failure to include all the official languages of the EU is a form of discrimination affecting every citizen
and is also a breach of the right of unrestricted access to information.

Why has information about these programmes not been made available in all the official languages of the
EU?

When will this information be provided for all EU citizens in the eleven official languages?

C 92 E/4

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

17.4.2003

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(14 June 2002)

The purpose of Europa is to provide information for all interested parties about the programmes run by
the Commission on behalf of the Union. The Commission is, however, well aware of the problems
connected with the present level of multilingualism on a number of the sites run by its departments.

The fundamental reason why the information about these programmes is not yet available in all the official
languages of the Union is the amount of resources currently available to Commission departments for the
translation of
languages and to the webmasters for the physical
management of thousands of translated files.

information into all

the official

The problem will be partly solved when the Commission introduces the use of web content management
tools capable of automating, to a large extent, the handling of thousands of new pages and links in up to
eleven language versions. The Commission will experiment with such tools at the end of 2002 and, if they
are successful, introduce them as soon as possible. In the meantime, the Commission estimates that there
are currently 150 000 pages that need to be translated in order to catch up with the present backlog. It
considers that this operation should be undertaken over a three-year period in order not to overburden
translation capacities. Similar scenarios are now being examined for the future Member States.

(2003/C 92 E/005)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0350/02

by Helena Torres Marques (PSE) to the Commission

Subject: Portuguese victims of violent crime in South Africa

(12 February 2002)

The problem of violent crime in South Africa has assumed worrying proportions in the last few years. In
2000 alone around 21 thousand people died as a result of violent incidents, and this number includes not
only South African citizens, but also many Europeans, in particular British, Greek, Dutch and Portuguese
nationals.

Unfortunately the phenomenon does not seem to be decreasing. Last year, for example, 30 Portuguese
citizens lost their lives in South Africa, and there were an average of 20 deaths in both 1999 and 2000. In
January this year alone three Portuguese citizens were murdered.

The Portuguese in South Africa in fact constitute one of the largest foreign communities in the country
(150 000 people, according to official figures, although there may be even more). It is therefore one of the
groups worst affected by the exponential growth in crime, which the South African authorities seem
incapable of tackling by themselves.

Can the Commission therefore say whether, and to what extent, it intends to support South Africa and its
authorities in combating the problems caused by violent crime and determining the root causes and, above
all, what steps it is taking or will take to ensure the safety of Europeans in that country?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(9 April 2002)

The Commission is aware of the high crime rate in South Africa and of the efforts made by the authorities
to bring crime figures down (cid:1) without substantial results so far. The Commission feels the situation is one
of very serious concern as violence is a threat to the lives of all inhabitants of the country (cid:1) including
Union citizens and among them the Portuguese community. Violence also affects the fabric of society
itself. In addition, it undermines the country’s reputation abroad, discourages foreign investment and has a
detrimental effect on the economy as a whole.