WRITTEN QUESTION E-2939/03 by José Ribeiro e Castro (UEN) to the Commission. Promoting and publicising EURES.
Date: 2003-10-06
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EURES, Internet site, dissemination of EU information, first job, labour market, public awareness campaign, statistics

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20.3.2004

responsibility of the host State to ensure that the formal rights of immigrants are in place in such a way
that immigrants have the possibility of participating in economic, social, cultural and civil life and, on the
other hand, that immigrants respect the fundamental norms and values of the host society and participate
actively in the integration process. It should be noted, that in the proposal for a Directive on the status of
third-country nationals who are long-term residents (2), on which political agreement was reached in June
2003, Member States may require that third country nationals comply with integration conditions in
accordance with national law as condition for acquiring long-term residents status. Conditions for access to
citizenship are a matter for Member States but it is clear that citizenship, which brings both rights and
obligations for the person concerned, can be an important step in the integration process.

(1) OJ C 332 E, 27.11.2001.
(2) OJ C 240 E, 28.8.2001.

(2004/C 70 E/183)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2939/03

by José Ribeiro e Castro (UEN) to the Commission

(6 October 2003)

Subject: Promoting and publicising EURES

When my report on the Commission’s EURES activity report 1998-1999 entitled ‘Towards an integrated
European labour market the contribution of EURES’ for the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs
(A5-0169/2001), adopted on 31 May 2001, was submitted and debated, I drew attention to the fact of
public ignorance of the service in the Explanatory Statement.

I wrote that ‘the efforts to promote and publicise the service should be substantially intensified’, proposing
the use of ‘publicity … consist [ing of] permanent information, through prolonging and overcoming the
merely temporary effect of advertising and promotion campaigns’.

I then observed that for example, EURES website already includes links to job classified announcements
published on-line by several press media in Member States, and then asked ‘why not negotiate with these
media,
in compensation, not only the corresponding cross-links connecting their on-line additions to
EURES database, but also the insertion of small ads to EURES network in the correspondent printed
editions?’

I would therefore ask the Commission:

(cid:1) What measures has it taken or does it intend to take to promote and publicise EURES? Specifically,

has it already contacted press media, as I suggested? If so, what were the reactions?

(cid:1) How many users visited the new EURES portal in the days immediately following its reopening after
recent remodelling? What difficulties or problems were detected? Is use uniformly spread amongst
nationals of the various Member States? Does any nationality preponderate?

(cid:1) What percentage of the ‘first job market’ does the Commission envisage as being concentrated in

EURES?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(11 November 2003)

In connection with the launching of the new EURES job mobility portal on 19 September 2003, a press
conference was organised and the event received good media coverage all over Europe. The accompanying
mobility information campaign, launched on the same day, will ensure further publicity support to EURES
throughout 2003/2004 since all the material used during the campaign refers to the EURES portal, which
is also the campaign website (http://europa.eu.int/eures/index.jsp).

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(PES).
EURES is basically a co-operation network between national Public Employment Services
They provide input to the EURES site, including links to the media in the Member States. Following the
principle of subsidiarity, specific arrangements with national media are usually made by the respective PES
of each Member State. However, the Commission (EURESco) strongly encourages the PES to take all
possible measures to promote the network and its site.

In the first two weeks, following the launching of the new EURES portal on 19 September, the number of
visitors was 150 000 compared to 256 800 for the whole month of September 2003 and 206 000 for the
whole month of August 2003.

Apart from a few minor technical problems, occurring only in the first days, such as long response times
from the server, no difficulties or problems were detected.

The use of the EURES site is well spread among the Member States, but there is a substantial proportion of
visitors where the country of residence cannot be identified. Provisional statistics on visitors coming from
specific countries for September 2003 are as follows: Italy 10,41 %; Germany 6,86 %; Belgium 5,03 %;
Netherlands 3,43 %.

The Commission does not have any specific figures available on the proportion of ‘first time job seekers’
among EURES users, since such a question is not asked of the users. Because the younger age groups tend
to be more mobile across borders, it is likely, however, that they constitute a significant part of EURES
users.

(2004/C 70 E/184)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2941/03

by Rosa Miguélez Ramos (PSE) to the Commission

(8 October 2003)

Subject: Allocations from the Solidarity Fund

Following the ‘Prestige’ disaster,
the European Parliament adopted two resolutions calling on the
Commission ‘as a matter of urgency, to consider using all the necessary financial instruments to tackle
the economic, social and environmental consequences and assist the economic sectors affected’ and
demanding ‘the immediate adoption of measures to alleviate the damaged occasioned to those affected,
through use of the Solidarity Fund’ (1) and to assist ‘the people in economic sectors affected by the oil
pollution and restore the environment of the regions concerned’ (2).

Commissioner Barnier’s reply to my question E-3659/02 (3) on 26 February 2003 stated that
the
Commission had received the formal request from the Spanish authorities on 14 January 2003 for
mobilisation of the European Union Solidarity Fund to provide help with the clean-up costs of the oil slick
damage to the Galician coastline caused by the sinking of the ‘Prestige’.

The Commission recalled that the Solidarity Fund was set up to provide assistance principally in the event
of natural disasters and that it cannot be used to provide immediate financial assistance if the fairly specific
qualifying criteria outlined in the Regulation are met.

On 23 September, Community institution representatives including Budgets Commissioner Schreyer and
Council President Magri agreed to encourage mobilising the Solidarity Fund for three Member States:
Spain, Italy and Portugal. The agreement reached signed EUR 8,6 million to the Spanish regions affected by
the ‘Prestige’ disaster, EUR 47,6 million to the Italian regions
recently hit by earthquakes, and
EUR 48,5 million to counteract the effects of the criminally-started forest fires in Portugal.