WRITTEN QUESTION P-2009/03 by José Ribeiro e Castro (UEN) to the Commission. Women's organisations — Budget Item A-3046.
Date: 2003-06-11
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU financing, budget, eligibility criteria, trafficking in human beings, women's movement

C 11 E/242

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

15.1.2004

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(9 July 2003)

The Commission attaches great importance to the rights of freedom of religion, belief and expression in its
dialogues with third countries. Freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief are fundamental human
rights and as such are enshrined in a number of
instruments including the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (Article 18),
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(Article 18) and the European Convention on Human Rights (Article 9). In addition, the EU Charter of
fundamental rights, which guides the Commission’s external action in this field, makes clear that everyone
has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion (Article 10) and that cultural, religious and
linguistic diversity should be respected.

international

The Union has repeatedly affirmed that human rights and democratisation must form an integral part of
all political dialogues with third countries. Religious freedom as a fundamental human right as well as the
rights of religious minorities are thus addressed through the Union’s bilateral political dialogues, and, when
appropriate, through démarches and public declarations, as well as through Union action in fora such as
the United Nations (UN) Commission on Human Rights or the Third Committee of the UN General
Assembly.

Even if the political situation and the level of religious tension varies from country to country, the
Commission can assure the Honourable Members that it monitors the issue of religious freedom closely in
all countries and that it remains ready to raise particular concerns through all channels available, as
appropriate.

(2004/C 11 E/270)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2009/03

by José Ribeiro e Castro (UEN) to the Commission

Subject: Women’s organisations (cid:1) Budget Item A-3046

(11 June 2003)

In the answer to my question in April on the above subject (Written Question E-1436/03 (1)), I was
surprised to learn that, as far as the new Item A-3046 was concerned, the Commission had merely issued a
call for proposals with a view to financing a network of leading players involved in providing aid to
victims of trafficking in women. Having then consulted the text of ‘public call for proposals No VP/2002/
14’, to which the answer referred and of which, up to that point, I had known absolutely nothing, I
discovered that the Commission had severely restricted the scope of the new Item A-3046, created in
2002 and entered again in the 2003 budget.

Parliament approved this item on the understanding that any women’s organisations should be eligible to
benefit, the only qualification being that they should not belong to the European Women’s Lobby (LEF/
EWL). The aim in policy and budgetary terms was precisely to enable other women’s organisations, outside
the LEF/EWL monopoly, to be supported. The Commission, however, has sought to impose a significant
new restriction.

This way of proceeding is very surprising and I have my doubts as to whether it is even legal. It is
legitimate to ask whether the Commission has introduced a form of discrimination where women’s
organisations are concerned, by laying down a requirement contrary to the will of Parliament and without
regard to the budgetary authority and employing a means of favouring some NGOs at the expense of
others. It is legitimate to ask whether the Commission has distorted the real intention of Parliament and
the budgetary authority, because if they had wished to confine themselves to the problem of trafficking in
women, they would obviously have said so and expressly made the necessary provision. There is also
reason to suspect that the Commission may have acted specifically with the aim of helping the IRENE
organisation, adding to its existing funding, since, according to my information, it was already benefiting
under other Community programmes, including for example Daphne.

15.1.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 11 E/243

The Commission:

(cid:1) can it therefore say what legal basis has entitled it, through call for proposals No VP/2002/14, to
restrict the scope of the new Item A-3046 to a single objective, despite the fact that the budgetary
authority established the item on an open footing;

(cid:1) can it give an assurance that it has not acted deliberately for the benefit of IRENE, already supported

under other Community programmes;

(cid:1) what answer will it give to other European women’s organisations, which, when seeking aid under
Item A-3046, suffer unfair discrimination and are totally excluded simply because they do not belong
to the LEF/EWL (although that was the condition laid down by the budgetary authority) or to IRENE
(the new sole recipient);

(cid:1) does it believe its actions to be lawful and proper?

(1) OJ C 268 E, 7.11.2003, p. 198.

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(7 July 2003)

As announced by the Member of the Commission responsible for Employment and Social Affairs during
her intervention at the Women’s Rights Committee of the Parliament on 18 April 2002, the Commission
had decided to allocate the EUR 300 000 voted by the Parliament under the new 2002 budget heading A-
3046 to support, following an open call for proposals (VP/2002/014), the activities of groups (largely non-
governmental organisations and charities) which are actively involved in assisting the female victims of
trafficking.

The Commission reached this decision mainly due to the fact that such groups tend to be poorly and
sporadically funded, and to operate locally and in isolation from each other; thus it has not been possible
to develop coherent approaches or to exchange experience. The financial support provided in order to
bring together those actors contributes to better co-operate and co-ordinate their actions for assisting
female victims of trafficking overcome their plight and reintegrate the society. Moreover, in delimitating
the scope of the relevant call for proposals by focusing on the theme of ‘on the ground’assistance to
women victims of trafficking, the Commission expressed its wish to avoid dispersion of resources and to
ensure the effectiveness of its intervention.

It should be noted in this connection that the members of the Women’s Rights Committee have on various
occasions expressed satisfaction that the plight of female victims of trafficking would be supported in this
way and wished the Commission success.

Under the 2003 budget and in order to ensure continuity and efficiency with regard to the type of
activities that have received financial support in 2002 through budget heading A-3046, the Commission
has decided to launch the relevant open call for proposals covering the same theme as in 2002. This
approach does not, however, prejudice the future, as a ‘rotating’ system of priority issues could be
envisaged for receiving funding under the said budget heading.

the written
With regard to the previous contracts concluded between the Commission and IRENE,
declaration provided by IRENE in the application form submitted under the above-mentioned call for
proposals clearly mentions that those were already completed, with the exception of two; however, this
does not constitute a criterion for rejecting a proposal given, in particular, that the subject matter of the
previous contracts is different from the scope of the call for proposals.