WRITTEN QUESTION E-1639/03 by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Extra measures to promote means of subsistence in regions where Roma people constitute a large proportion of the population.
Date: 2003-05-16
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU financing, EU regional policy, European social policy, Roma, accession to the European Union, less-favoured region, protection of minorities, social integration

C 33 E/148

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

6.2.2004

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(27 June 2003)

Under Article 10 of Council Directive 1999/74/EC of 19 July 1999 laying down minimum standards for
the protection of laying hens (1) an external study is to be carried out on the socio-economic implications
where third countries are concerned of the Community legislation on laying hen welfare. Its findings will
help determine the degree of sensitivity of the egg sector.

It is also to be noted that in the World Trade Organisation negotiations the Community has confirmed
that it considers it important that trade liberalisation should not imperil the effort to improve animal
welfare protection. Exclusion from the commitment reductions (’green box’) is therefore proposed for
compensation covering the additional costs involved in satisfying animal welfare standards, provided it can
be shown that they are a direct result of adoption of more rigorous standards and therefore do not disturb
trade or disturb it as little as possible.

(1) OJ L 203, 3.8.1999.

(2004/C 33 E/146)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1639/03

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(16 May 2003)

Subject: Extra measures to promote means of subsistence in regions where Roma people constitute a large

proportion of the population

1.
Is the Commission aware that after the next two enlargements the population of the European Union
will include at least three or four million Roma people, and that most of them are concentrated in the
economically weakest regions, i.e. regions with high unemployment and low mean per capita incomes?

2. What is being done to ensure that in the future Member States with the largest percentages of Roma,
namely Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, sufficient EU funds are deployed from the time of their
accession for projects to improve education, housing, sources of income and other facilities for the large
Roma minorities, in order to create better opportunities for these residents to enjoy equal opportunities
and equal status with other citizens, without having to migrate?

3. What is being done to ensure that in Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, from the time of
their accession, the disadvantaged regions where the Roma are concentrated receive assistance by means of
cofinancing from EU funds? What is being done to prevent a large part of this funding from finding its
way to the most prosperous, central regions, which may seek to further increase their advantage over the
rest of the Member State concerned?

4.
Do the existing rules on the taking of initiatives and the readiness of Member States or local
authorities to provide cofinancing for them constitute an obstacle to special EU measures to assist the
Roma and the regions where they mainly live? What, if anything, needs to change in order to eliminate
such obstacles?

5. Will this issue be taken into account in decisions to be adopted concerning the extent to which and
way in which EU funds are to be made available and deployed from 2006 onwards?

6.2.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 33 E/149

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(19 August 2003)

According to estimates contained in the Commission’s document, ‘EU Support for Roma Communities in
Central and Eastern Europe’, published in May 2002, the Roma population of the European Union will
increase by some 1,5 million people following enlargement to 25 Member States. Subsequent enlargement
to include Bulgaria and Romania would add an estimated 3 million people to the Roma population of the
Union.

The Commission is determined to ensure that the fullest use is made of the different instruments available
at Community level by the authorities and other relevant actors in the Member States, the new Member
States and the candidate countries in relation to the situation of the Roma communities.

The Union is already heavily engaged in efforts aiming to improve the situation of Roma communities in
Europe. During the last three years alone, over EUR 77 million in funding has been provided through the
PHARE programme for projects in Hungary, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Bulgaria and Romania
directed at the Roma communities.

Similar initiatives are being funded in existing Member States such as Spain, Greece and France, through
the European Social Fund,
including the EQUAL Community Initiative, and European Regional
Development Fund interventions in support of investment. Projects for Roma are also supported through
other Community programmes such as Socrates, Youth for Europe and the Community Action Programme
to Combat Discrimination.

from European Union support under

Following the accession of new Member States which is scheduled for May 2004, Hungary and Slovakia
the Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund. The
will benefit
programmes and projects supported by these funds can be used to contribute to projects in a variety of
fields of potential benefit to the Roma population such as those concerning education and training,
enterprise and infrastructure development.

Consistent with the principles of decentralised management of European programmes, it is the role of the
authorities in the Member States to select projects for support, once the broad strategic objectives of the
programmes have been agreed with the Commission. It is for these authorities to ensure that the projects
selected contribute to the needs of the whole of the population concerned in accordance with the strategic
objectives of the programme.

Following accession, new Member States will also have to ensure conformity with Council Directive 2000/
43/EC of 29 June 2000 on equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin (1) and
Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment
in employment and occupation (2).

Similarly, Bulgaria and Romania will benefit from European Cohesion policies, and will have to conform
with Community law, in accordance with the provisions that exist at the time of accession.

(1) OJ L 180, 19.7.2000.
(2) OJ L 303, 2.12.2000.

(2004/C 33 E/147)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1642/03

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(16 May 2003)

Subject: Subjecting of EU citizens to an American points and bargaining system in place of procedures to

establish the truth and normal administration of criminal justice

1.
Are citizens of EU Member States increasingly being handed over to the USA for acts regarded as
punishable offences in that country without subsequently being given an opportunity to prove their