WRITTEN QUESTION E-2452/02 by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Employment and social security rights for persons employed as school caretakers.
Date: 2002-08-29
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU programme, Greece, educational institution, labour law, service occupation, social security, unemployment, vocational training

6.2.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 28 E/241

The Commission’s review of Directive 95/46/EC will be wide-ranging and will take account of all useful
and relevant information brought to its attention.

(1) COM(2002) 141 final.
(2) The complete text of the adopted document is available at: http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/en/dataprot/

wpdocs/wp60_en.pdf.

(2003/C 28 E/271)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2452/02

by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(29 August 2002)

Subject: Employment and social security rights for persons employed as school caretakers

By decision 34100 of 24 November 1999 of the Greek Minister of Labour a programme providing work
experience for 3 300 unemployed persons as school caretakers was adopted. The programme was
originally scheduled to run for 24 months: eleven months were to be devoted to acquiring work
experience and the remaining thirteen months would consist of work. The unemployed persons were
recruited for this purpose in the first quarter of 2001. After a seminar lasting a few days, the school
caretakers took up regular work guarding school buildings every day of the month around the clock. Their
work was judged to be exceptionally positive. However, for the first eleven months of work experience, the
social security rights of these employees were extremely limited and included only medical care without
any provision for pension rights, leave, holidays, night work, etc. After the end of the first eleven-month
period of work experience, their period of employment was extended by ministerial decision, but without
them being granted the social security and labour rights to which they are entitled by law, although they
have completed the period of work experience and are regularly employed. What measures does the
Commission intend to take to put an end to the unacceptable restrictions on their employment rights,
particularly since it is financing the programmes in question?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(10 October 2002)

As the matter raised concerns a European Social Fund programme, the Commission will contact the Greek
authorities in order to obtain the necessary information and clarification and inform the Honourable
Member of the outcome of this inquiry.

The Commission can, however, draw the Honourable Member’s attention to the following: Council
Directive 1999/70/EC of 28 June 1999 concerning the famework agreement on fixed-term work
concluded by ETUC, UNICE and CEEP (1) lays down the principle of non-discrimination of fixed-term
workers compared to workers with a contract of indefinite duration. The Member States may, however,
provide that
training relationships and
apprenticeship schemes or employment contracts and relationships which have been concluded within
the framework of a specific public or publicly-supported training, integration and vocational retraining
programme.

the Directive should not be applied to initial vocational

As far as the protection of health and safety is concerned, the provisions of the Working Time Directive
(Council Directive 93/104/EC of 23 November 1993 concerning certain aspects of the organization of
working time (2)), in principle, apply. Indeed, the personal scope of this Directive is rather large, as it
applies to every worker. The definition of ‘worker’ is, according to Article 3 of Council Directive 89/391/
EEC of 12 June 1989 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health
of workers at work (3),
including trainees and apprentices but
excluding domestic servants’.

‘any person employed by an employer,

Workers covered by the Directive are, without prejudice of the derogations provided for by Article 17,
entitled to:

(cid:1) a minimum daily rest period of 11 consecutive hours per 24-hour period (Article 3);

(cid:1) a rest break where the working day is longer than six hours (Article 4);

C 28 E/242

Official Journal of the European Union

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6.2.2003

(cid:1) an uninterrupted rest period of 24 hours for each seven-day period (Article 5);

(cid:1) an average working time for each seven-day period,

including overtime, not exceeding 48 hours

(Article 6);

(cid:1) paid annual leave of at least four weeks (Article 7);

(cid:1) a limit on the length of night work to an average of eight hours in any 24-hour period (Article 8).

Both Directives have been transposed into Greek law and it is up to the national authorities to assure they
are correctly applied.

Responsibility for social security entitlements remains with the Member States. Under European law it is
possible to have different social security arrangements for different categories of workers.

(1) OJ L 175, 10.7.1999.
(2) OJ L 307, 13.12.1993.
(3) OJ L 183, 29.6.1989.

(2003/C 28 E/272)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2463/02

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(4 September 2002)

Subject: Aid

1. Will the Commission give the amount of Community aid disbursed in each of the last five years in
the EU candidate countries including Turkey, and also in Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova?

2. Will it further detail the equivalent figures for disbursements to each country on the littoral of the
Mediterranean sea?

3. Will it further express the cumulative total for the five years for each country as a percentage of each
country’s GDP and as an amount per head of population of each country?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(15 October 2002)

The Commission is sending direct to the Honourable Member and to Parliament’s Secretariat a table
containing the information requested.

(2003/C 28 E/273)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2464/02

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(4 September 2002)

Subject: Trade figures

Further to the Commission’s answer to questions E-0992/02 to E-0994/02 and E-1106/02 (1), will the
Commission state whether it has asked the European Central Bank for permission so that Eurostat may
publish the figures for trade in goods and services? If not, will it do so promptly?