WRITTEN QUESTION E-3301/03 by Nicole Thomas-Mauro (UEN) to the Commission. Info-points Europe.
Date: 2003-11-07
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU financing, dissemination of EU information, information centre, information network, information policy, support policy

20.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 70 E/195

The Info-Points and Carrefours are the information centres which are closest to hand for the general
public. In view of the elections, the enlargement and the adoption of the new European Constitution, all of
which are set to take place in 2004, it is essential that these centres should be working flat out. However,
the Commission has decided to abolish the operating subsidies for these centres as from 1 January 2004.

Can the Commission state why the annual operating subsidies for the Info-Points and Carrefours are being
discontinued as from 1 January 2004?

Can the Commission give valid reasons for taking this step at such short notice?

Has the Commission made provision for transitional arrangements to help the Info-Points and Carrefours
cope with 2004, which will be a difficult year?

When does the Commission plan to put forward practical proposals regarding support for the information
centres in the future?

(2004/C 70 E/208)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3287/03

by Brice Hortefeux (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(5 November 2003)

Subject: Europe Houses

The concept of democratic deficit is used mainly to highlight how the European Union suffers from a lack
of democracy and appears inaccessible to citizens as a result of the complex way in which it functions.
It conveys the feeling that the Community’s institutional system is still rather opaque to the uninitiated.

One of the tasks assigned to the Europe Houses on their founding was to dissipate this idea of the distance
and inaccessibility of the Community’s institutions. Their primary aim was to strive to bring the European
people and the institutions closer together by providing information and removing the air of mystery
surrounding the working of the Community.

It cannot be denied that, in this sense, they perform this role most worthily on a daily basis, displaying
I was all the more amazed to discover, therefore, that the Commission is
competence and energy.
preparing simply to withdraw their operating grant for 2004, with notice given on 29 September. Aside
from the organisational difficulties this cut will bring (particularly with regard to the employment of
convinced young Europeans who have invested for years in this great enterprise), thought must also be
given to the impact on the European Union’s image. As the EU debates its future Constitution (and the
procedures for its entry into force) and prepares to welcome 10 new members (whose accession is
sometimes a cause of worry among citizens) and Europeans are called upon once again to express their
opinions in the European elections next June (and we are all aware of how difficult it is to persuade voters
to take part in this ballot), the European Commission is suddenly washing its hands of the EU’s largest
information network in the Member States.

As the reasons behind this decision are difficult to grasp, can the Commission shed some light on the
matter?

(2004/C 70 E/209)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3301/03

by Nicole Thomas-Mauro (UEN) to the Commission

(7 November 2003)

Subject: Info-points Europe

A message has recently been sent to the various Info-points Europe informing them that they were to lose
European subsidies.

The Info-points Europe were set up to enable members of the public to obtain information about Europe.

C 70 E/196

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

20.3.2004

The withdrawal of subsidies manifestly conflicts with the new information strategy adopted in 2002.
The Commission seems to take the view that the entry into force of the new Financial Regulation on
1 January 2003 is a sufficient condition for this withdrawal.

What financial support systems does the Commission propose to introduce?

Are any other measures planned to enable these bodies to operate?

(2004/C 70 E/210)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3389/03

by John Hume (PSE) to the Commission

(10 November 2003)

Subject: European Carrefours

Can the Commission explain why the Directorate-General for Press and Communication has announced
the sudden termination of operating grants to the 138 members of the European Carrefour Network?
Will it reconsider the decision and ensure that funding continues into 2004?

(2004/C 70 E/211)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3403/03

by John Cushnahan (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(11 November 2003)

Subject: Funding for European Carrefour

I understand that DG Press and Communications has recently decided to cancel the current contracts with
the European Carrefour organisations and to offer them replacement contracts without
the annual
operating grant of EUR 20 000 for 2004. I understand that the relevant financial rules have been in force
since 1 January 2003, yet the European Carrefour were not informed of this decision until 29 September
2003.

The European Carrefour constitutes an essential source of information about the EU, and it would seem
that this is an inopportune moment for such a change in policy, given that they are in the process of
preparing public campaigns on enlargement; the new Constitution and the European Parliament elections.

Why was such a decision taken, and how does the Commission envisage that the European Carrefour will
be able to function in 2004 with such a reduced budget?

Joint answer
to Written Questions E-3007/03, P-3068/03, E-3112/03, P-3153/03,
E-3240/03, P-3265/03, E-3287/03, E-3301/03, P-3389/03 and P-3403/03
given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(21 November 2003)

The Commission would thank the Honourable Members for their questions and wishes to make the
following points.

The thirteen hundred general public information relays which are run on the Commission’s behalf by the
Directorate-General for Press and Information all receive logistical aid in the form of technical support
services in kind (1) which, it has been confirmed, will continue.

Only the 270 or so host structures of an information relay belonging to the rural
information and
promotion carrefours or Info-Points Europe have in the past received a flat-rate annual operating grant.
This grant was awarded on the basis of an agreement signed with the Commission which was renewable
annually by means of a supplementary agreement.