WRITTEN QUESTION E-2704/03 by Luigi Vinci (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Transposal of Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 into Italian law.
Date: 2003-09-11
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU control, European Commission, Italy, anti-discriminatory measure, employment policy, equal treatment, national implementing measure, working conditions

6.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 58 E/197

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(29 September 2003)

The shift in disability policies in recent years from a compensation based approach to equal
1.
participation at all levels of society has led to a reorientation of the funding strategy from vertical, special
programmes for specific target groups to a mainstreaming approach, a horizontal consideration of
disability issues if possible in all Community-Programmes.

This means that people with disabilities and their needs are taken into account in many Community
Programmes in almost all thematic fields for example education, research, information and communication
technologies, public health, culture, sports, transport, telecommunications, the fight against discrimination,
labour market and social policies etc. Therefore the total amount of funding available for the area of
policies on disabled persons is difficult to identify.

In the framework of the Programme to combat discrimination, about EUR 1 million is allocated on a
yearly basis for specific actions to combat discrimination against people with disabilities. Moreover the
Commission funds part of the administrative costs of different disability non-governmental organisations
(NGOs) at Union level to allow for a better presentation of the interests of people with disabilities.

As a part of the FP6 (Six Framework Research Programme) Directorate General (DG) Information Society is
promoting research on assistive technology. The objective is to include also people with disabilities in the
research domain will be about
information society,
EUR 36 million.

‘eInclusion’. The budget

for 2003 in this

Grants from the European Social Fund are directly managed by the Member States in accordance with their
is a priority for the Commission to
programming documents approved by the Commission. As it
incorporate disability issues in every aspect of its employment and social policy, projects especially
targeting people with disabilities have been included in all type of measures (training, re-conversion, elderly
workers …) so that it is not possible, at Community level to identify the amount spent for this specific
target group.

2.
For the European Year of People with Disabilities a total amount of EUR 13 million has been
allocated. This amount includes EUR 272 640 for a voluntary participation of European Free Trade
Association (EFTA) States and an amount of EUR 780 000 which was additionally allocated by the
European Parliament at a later stage.

3.
As a general rule the participation in Commission Programmes has to be via calls for tender or calls
for proposals for each thematic field. According to the specifications for each call for tender/proposals,
organisations, NGOs or public institutions in all Member States have the possibility to apply. In relation to
the Social Fund see reply to point 1 above.

For the European Year of People with Disabilities the Federal Republic of Germany has received a total
amount of EUR 850 000 which was spent in line with national priorities via a national call for tender
within a consistent European framework. Additionally EUR 90 000 was allocated for the national opening
ceremony which took place in February 2003 in Magdeburg. All
this funding has been taken up
completely by the Federal Republic of Germany.

(2004/C 58 E/212)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2704/03

by Luigi Vinci (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(11 September 2003)

Subject: Transposal of Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 into Italian law

On 3 July 2003 the Italian Government adopted a draft legislative decree to meet the obligation to
transpose into national law the provisions of Directive 2000/78/EC, which lays down criteria for equal

C 58 E/198

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

6.3.2004

treatment in the field of employment and working conditions. Article 3(6) of that draft act extends, in
vague terms, the notion of justification for indirect discriminatory acts where these are warranted ‘by
legitimate aims pursued through appropriate and proportionate means’.

The clause extending that justification, which does not refer to the specific religious beliefs earlier cited,
does not precisely detail the various cases for which the Italian Government intends to establish a practice
or national law as provided for in Article 4 of the European Directive, and therefore leaves employers
substantial leeway for interpretation, particularly in the area of a person’s sexual orientation. The only
specific definition provided in the legislative decree concerns the legitimacy of excluding anyone who has
received a definitive sentence for paedophilia or other sex crimes against minors from posts in the field of
assistance, care and education for children. This specific definition and the lack of a clear and unequivocal
definition of discriminatory differences of treatment has in practice been used by the RAI head office in
Venice to exclude staff who had stated a particular sexual orientation from managing broadcasts of
television programmes for children.

Does the Commission not consider that the vagueness of Article 3(6) of the Italian legislative decree could
give rise to arbitrary interpretations and consequently to applications of that decree that conflict with
Article 4 of Directive 2000/78/EC (1), under which the only discriminatory acts not to be deemed as such
religious
relate to manifest
organisations?

religious beliefs and the tenets of

incompatibilities between personal

What steps will
to ensure that Directive 2000/78/EC of
27 November 2000 is transposed in a correct and consistent manner and that any unlawful discriminatory
act conflicting with the actual derogations provided for in that directive is penalised?

take vis-à-vis the Italian Government

it

(1) OJ L 303, 2.12.2000, p. 16.

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(8 October 2003)

As the Commission just received official notification from Italy on 4 September 2003 of the transposal of
Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment
in employment and occupation (1), it is not in a position to comment at this stage on the text adopted.

In order to ensure that the Directive is transposed fully and coherently, the Commission has asked Member
States to provide,
in support of their notification, a table showing correlation between the provisions
contained in the Directive and those contained in national legislation. The Commission will use this table
to examine in detail the provisions to which it refers, and in particular the limited derogations permitted
by the Directives.

(1) OJ L 303, 2.12.2000.

(2004/C 58 E/213)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2707/03

by Raffaele Costa (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(11 September 2003)

Subject: Electronic health card

In winter 2002, the Commission made a proposal for the introduction of a personal electronic health card
carrying all the medical and administrative data on each citizen of a Member State. This card would
replace the E111 form that is needed to obtain coverage for the expenses borne by citizens of a Member
State in the event of their receiving health treatment in another Member State during a stay as a tourist,
would fully respect privacy and could also be used in relation to patient mobility.