WRITTEN QUESTION P-0256/04 by María Valenciano Martínez-Orozco (PSE) to the Commission. Open call for proposals VP/2002/6 for the programme relating to the Community framework strategy on gender equality (2001-2005).
Date: 2004-01-29
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU action, European Movement, association, equal treatment, gender equality, non-governmental organisation, public administration, women's movement

C 84 E/184

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.4.2004

In view of the foregoing,

1. Would the Commission state whether it is possible to adopt at European level a label certifying the

quality and freshness of bread?

2. What are the Commission’s views on this subject?

3. What, in the Commission’s opinion, are the most effective measures that could be taken to help save
traditional bakers’ occupational category, in view of the fact that last year, for example, two thousand
bakeries had to close in Germany and, in the south of France, bread is sold almost exclusively in
supermarkets?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(27 February 2004)

The range of bakery products available in the EU is enormous, reflecting the multitude of regional and
local customs and traditions.

Moreover, as the Honourable Member rightly states, these products are usually produced in whole or in
part at their place of sale and are therefore not exported to other Member States to any significant extent.

This means that legislation setting harmonised, EU-level quality standards for bakery products would be
difficult to achieve and would not meet a real need.

However, Member States, pursuant to the principle of subsidiarity, may decide to take measures of this
kind at national level, within the rules laid down by Articles 28 to 30 of the EC Treaty.

(2004/C 84 E/0224)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0256/04

by María Valenciano Martínez-Orozco (PSE) to the Commission

(29 January 2004)

Subject: Open call for proposals VP/2002/6 for the programme relating to the Community framework

strategy on gender equality (2001-2005)

Section 4 of the open call for proposals for the programme relating to the Community framework strategy
on gender equality, entitled ‘Who can submit a proposal?’, stipulates what kind of organisations may
present a proposal as a promoter and what kind may act as partners in a proposal.

The wording of section 4 suggests that NGOs wishing to participate as promoters must be in one of the
two following situations:

(cid:1) according to paragraph 1, the NGO must be ‘organised at European level’; in the absence of specific
European legislation governing associations, the only way for NGOs to demonstrate their ‘European
dimension’ is by having offices in three or more Member States;

(cid:1) according to paragraph 4, promoters must be a transnational network of organisations which are
‘legally established or equivalent’;
this requirement creates legal uncertainty since ‘transnational
networks’ as such do not figure in national or European law and therefore cannot be ‘legally
established or similar’.

Does the Commission not think that this restriction based on size and the accompanying uncertainty could
become a real obstacle to participation by NGOs and could even prevent women’s organisations from
becoming promoters of proposals?

3.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 84 E/185

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(1 March 2004)

In accordance with the Programme relating to the Community framework strategy on gender equality
(2001-2005) (1), Community actions are implemented with a view to achieving the objectives referred to in
the above programme within a transnational framework. The types of action to be taken under the
programme are set out
‘Strengthening capacity’, provides for
transnational exchange actions involving a range of players from at least three Member States. These
actions ‘may be undertaken by NGOs or social partners at European level and transnational networks of
regional or local authorities and of organisations which aim to promote gender equality’.

the third of which,

in three strands,

The call for proposals (VP/2002/6) mentioned by the Honourable Member was issued as part of this
approach. The Commission decided to highlight the transnational aspect in the actions it cofinances by
establishing eligibility, selection and award criteria which encourage NGOs, public authorities and women’s
organisations, even small ones, to aim at forms of association which strengthen the European added value
of their projects.

(1) Council Decision 2001/51/EC of 20 December 2000 establishing a Programme relating to the Community

framework strategy on gender equality, OJ L 17, 19.1.2001.

(2004/C 84 E/0225)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0257/04

by María Valenciano Martínez-Orozco (PSE) to the Commission

(3 February 2004)

Subject: Open call for proposals VP/2002/6 for the programme relating to the Community framework

strategy on gender equality (2001-2005)

In order to determine how section 4 of the above call for proposals is to be interpreted and the
implications for participation by women’s organisations, will the Commission provide a list of the
promoters who have submitted proposals and a list of promoters whose proposals were successful under
the 2003 call for proposals?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(4 March 2004)

The list of projects received under the open call for proposals VP/2002/6 and the list of projects selected
for subsidy are being sent to the Honourable Member and to the Parliament Secretariat. The list of selected
projects will be published as soon as possible on the Internet site of the Community Institutions in
accordance with Article 169(1) of Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002 of 23 December
2002 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/
2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (1).

This list has been drawn up on the basis of the exclusion, selection and award criteria laid down in the text
of the call for proposals.

(1) OJ L 357, 31.12.2002.