WRITTEN QUESTION E-4005/03 by Anna Terrón i Cusí (PSE) to the Commission. Discrimination against Community children as regards access to sports federations in Spain.
Date: 2004-01-07
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU national, Spain, child of migrant, children's rights, discrimination on the basis of nationality, sport, sports body

27.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 78 E/891

The annual statistical programme contributes to the priorities of the five-year statistical programme, one of
which is completion of the social agenda. Social aspects are also taken into account in all statistics relating
to the internal market. The work programme finally adopted by the Commission does in fact include some
of the social statistics referred to by the Honourable Member, such as those on disabled persons or time
use surveys, plus of course statistics on social protection, living conditions and household incomes, the
labour force and employment.

The Commission is indeed mindful of the needs of disabled people and the requirement for statistical
information, especially in relation to the European Year for People with Disabilities. For instance, Theme
35 ‘Health and Safety’ of the 2004 Statistical Programme refers to the further development of a common
module on disability in the context of the European Health Interview Survey. Commission policy on
gender mainstreaming is not affected since all individual data will continue to be collected by gender and
this dimension will feature systematically in the presentation of the statistics. Concerning racism and
discrimination against women, the Commission has never collected statistics on these topics, which would
incidentally be very difficult
to quantify using available statistical methods. Regarding statistics on
homelessness, an exploratory study carried out by Eurostat revealed that it is very difficult to collect cross-
country comparable statistics on this issue, and that there is still a sore lack of statistical capacity or
political will to collect this type of statistics at the national level.

The assistance programmes for statistics for the acceding and remaining candidate countries will continue
according to long-term planning. The Honourable Member will be aware that the Accession Treaty
provides for continued institution-building assistance in the field of statistics for the ten acceding countries
even after accession, under the Transition Facility.

Despite the termination of certain contracts connected with the preparation of statistical publications, the
pace and quality of dissemination of statistical information has been maintained, as shown by the stable
number of press releases issued by Eurostat or the 10 % increase in the number of titles published in 2003
in the ‘Statistics in Focus’ series. The Honourable Member’s attention is drawn to the new strategy applied
to the dissemination of statistical information. On the basis of the principle that statistical information is a
public service, all the statistical data produced and gathered by Eurostat should be accessible free of charge
to users and available on the Internet. This strategy is set out in greater detail in the Action Plan for
Eurostat referred to below.

On the staffing side, a detailed internal review of the allocation of human resources was conducted in
January 2004 in order to match Eurostat’s resources to the priorities to be applied in the work programme
and to organise as efficiently as possible the reintegration of certain activities which in the past had been
outsourced. Some additional posts were awarded in the final allocation of human resources for 2004 and
the additional requirements are being considered in connection with the annual policy strategy for 2005.

Finally the Commission has been informed of the 2004 Action Plan for Eurostat, which determines the
work priorities and the arrangements for implementing the statistical programme and takes stock of all the
actions undertaken by Eurostat and those planned for 2004. This Action Plan is being sent direct to the
Honourable Member and to Parliament’s Secretariat.

(2004/C 78 E/0942)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-4005/03

by Anna Terrón i Cusí (PSE) to the Commission

(7 January 2004)

Subject: Discrimination against Community children as regards access to sports federations in Spain

Any person who is a national of a Member State enjoys citizenship of the European Union, and any form
of discrimination against them on the grounds of their nationality is prohibited under the Treaties and
Articles 4 and 8 of the Draft European Constitution.

C 78 E/892

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

27.3.2004

Article 31 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child recognises the right of children to rest and leisure,
to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to their age and to participate freely in cultural life
and the arts.

Article 24 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union lays down children’s right to the
protection and care necessary for their well-being.

Serious cases of discrimination against girls and boys are arising in Spain as regards access to sports
leagues, as a result of administrative obstacles or the refusal of sports federations to grant
them
membership, despite the fact that they are Community citizens.

What is the Commission’s view of the refusal by Spanish sports federations to grant membership cards to
children who are Member State nationals, when this refusal means that they are unable to play sport?

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(10 February 2004)

On the subject of difficulties encountered by young foreigners concerning access to sports activities
organised by certain federations in Spain, the Honourable Member is referred to the answer given by the
Commission to Written Question P-3911/03 from Mrs Valenciano Martinez-Orozco (1).

(1) See page 335.

(2004/C 78 E/0943)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-4009/03

by Antonio Di Pietro (ELDR) to the Commission

(22 December 2003)

Subject: Reform of the tobacco CMO

Under the draft revision of the Common Market Organisation (CMO) in tobacco, the Commission has
made provision for Europe to progressively abandon the production of tobacco on its territory.

Specifically, the proposal envisages that from 2005 there will be a drastic revision of the aid system, which
will lead in 2007 to the abolition of the Community fund for tobacco.

While concerns regarding the very serious public health problems caused by tobacco are understandable, it
should be noted that dismantling this productive sector will have dramatic implications for at least
110 000 families of European agricultural workers, 400 000 seasonal
jobs and 30 000 jobs in the
processing industry.

Has the Commission made provision for appropriate social safety valves to safeguard the jobs of workers
in this sector? Would it be possible to maintain at least a partial link between aid and production?

Without compromising the wish to combat cigarette addiction effectively, particularly among the young,
does the Commission not believe that (cid:1) since Europe already imports 80 % of its tobacco requirements
from non-EU countries (cid:1) even were it to import 100 %, this would change nothing with regard to the
vital battle against tobacco consumption?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(30 January 2004)

The proposal for a reform of the raw tobacco sector implies that the product-specific support to tobacco
will be replaced by an income support to producers as in the June 2003 Common Agricultural Policy
(CAP) reform, and that the majority of the raw tobacco producers will continue to receive the same
support as they receive today without being bound to produce tobacco.