WRITTEN QUESTION P-1436/03 by José Ribeiro e Castro (UEN) to the Commission. Women's organisations — budget item A-3046.
Date: 2003-04-15
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU financing, association, co-financing, eligibility criteria, trafficking in human beings, women's movement

C 268 E/198

Official Journal of the European Union

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7.11.2003

(cid:1) If there is to be proper monitoring of the investments made, job creation and full respect for the legal
procedures as laid down in the Pact need to be ensured by the institutions as a matter of priority.

Can the Commission provide information on:

1.

2.

3.

the amount invested to date;

the monitoring mechanisms adopted,
observance of their commitments;

including at EU level, with a view to verifying businesses’

the number of posts involved in each undertaking, and whether the possibility of those undertakings
employing ‘black labour’ can be excluded;

4.

the measures that will be taken if it is found that the commitments made are not being observed?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(26 May 2003)

The Commission would like to inform the Honourable Member that the territorial employment pact for
Lamezia Terme was financed not by the Structural Funds but by national resources.

The Commission is therefore not in a position to answer the Honourable Member’s questions.

(2003/C 268 E/221)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1436/03

by José Ribeiro e Castro (UEN) to the Commission

Subject: Women’s organisations (cid:1) budget item A-3046

(15 April 2003)

In reply to my Question E-0344/03 (1), on budget item A-3046 ‘Women’s organisations’, Commissioner
Diamantopoulou said that in 2002, two proposals had been received in response to the public invitation
and that only the project submitted by the Associazione IRENE had been selected for funding, on the basis
of transnationality and the financial situation of the proposals assessed.

What was the other women’s organisation, whose proposal was rejected? What did its project consist of?
What criteria were used for eliminating it? Why did the Commission decide to assign the entire available
annual funding to one body? Approaching the issue from another angle, how was the selection criterion
concerning ‘the financial situation of the proposals’ handled? Is it a question of co-funding? And if so, to
what extent?

(1) OJ C 161 E, 10.7.2003, p. 211.

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(21 May 2003)

Further to the answer to the Honourable Member’s question No E-0344/03 (1), the Honourable Member is
informed that the rejected proposal received under open call for proposals No VP/2002/14 was from the
International Abolitionist Federation (IAF).

The objective of the IAF is to strengthen the SOS Trafficking network and the existing arrangements for
helping women victims of trafficking in Denmark, France, Italy and Slovakia. This was not judged to be
compatible with the aim of the call for proposals concerned, which was to fund a network bringing
together the main players involved in helping trafficking victims, with a view to boosting their capacity
and facilitating transnational exchanges and the transfer of information, experience and best practices.

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Official Journal of the European Union

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The transnationality aspects of the proposal submitted by the IAF were also weaker than in the case of the
IRENE proposal. Furthermore, monitoring and final assessment procedures were not clearly set out in the
IAF proposal.

Finally, the total budget put forward by the IAF was significantly higher than that required for the IRENE
proposal.

The selected proposal from the Associazione IRENE is being part-financed by the Commission to an
amount equivalent to 90 % of the project’s total eligible costs. This percentage is in line with what is laid
down in the calls for proposals for the establishing of networks under other ‘social’ programmes, namely
the ‘Article 13 (cid:1) non-discrimination’ and ‘social exclusion’ programmes.

(1) OJ C 161 E, 10.7.2003, p. 211.

(2003/C 268 E/222)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1447/03

by Mogens Camre (UEN) to the Commission

(28 April 2003)

Subject: Mrs Beate Winkler’s former employment

Since 1998, Mrs Beate Winkler has been director of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and
Xenophobia (EUMC).

This agency has a great deal of influence on the immigration debate in the EU Member States, partly as a
result of a number of outspoken comments by its director. On several occasions she has stated that the
Centre is considering investigating statements made by the Danish People’s Party, (Dansk Folkeparti).

The Danish People’s Party is a socially liberal party which also gives parliamentary support to Denmark’s
coalition government. Nevertheless the director of the EUMC has on several occasions described the party
as belonging to the extreme right-wing.

If the EUCM is to continue its work, it is important that its director should be a person who is capable of
carrying out objective research and not merely of expounding particular political points of view.

Could the Commission please state what training, from what training institution, Mrs Beate Winkler has
received, and what posts she has occupied since completing her training. I should like to know exactly on
what bodies, in what capacities, she has worked. I should also like to the Commission to clarify whether
Mrs Winkler was politically active during the period before her appointment by the EU.

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(3 June 2003)

Dr Beate Winkler was appointed Director of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia
in 1998, and re-appointed for a second term in 2002, by the Management Board of the Centre, from a
short-list put forward by the Commission. Her background and experience was of course a key element
which the board took into account in its deliberations. The curriculum vitae of the Director is publicly
available on the website of
the following address: http://www.eumc.eu.int/eumc/
index.php?fuseaction=content.dsp_cat_content&catid=3e4a5843e8631

the Centre at