WRITTEN QUESTION No. 781/98 by Glenys KINNOCK to the Commission. Street children in Guatemala
21. 10. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 323/73 (98/C 323/95) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0778/98 by Freddy Blak (PSE) to the Commission (18 March 1998) Subject: Age discrimination for EU employment I was surprised to note that age discrimination still applies in the recruitment of EU staff: last week a number of posts were advertised in Denmark via Ritzaus telegram bureau for which one of the requirements was that applicants must not be more than 35 years of age. 1. Why is there any age limit at all, and why 35 in this case? 2. Does the Commission believe that over 35s are less suitable for employment in the EU institutions than the under 35s? 3. Is the Commission aware that similar age limits are increasingly being be applied in other parts of the labour market, and does the Commission believe this to be desirable? 4. What plans does the Commission have for action to stop age discrimination in the labour market? Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission (6 April 1998) On 21 January 1998 (1), the Commission took a decision on the principle of dropping age limits from notices of competitions. The principle will be introduced gradually in agreement with the other Community institutions. As a first step, the age limit for competitions for recruitment to the starting grades will be raised to 45 years in line with the formula decided on by Parliamentís Bureau on 20 October 1997. This decision will be applied in future for all competitions for recruitment in the starting grades. The Commission would inform the Honourable Member that it has not published any competition with 35 years as the age limit since the beginning of this year. The practice followed by the Commission and the other institutions of including age limits in notices of competitions has been criticised by the Ombudsman and Members of Parliament. They maintain that age limits are discriminatory and arbitrary. The application of age limits should be treated in the same way as any another form of discrimination. The matter of age limits must now be viewed also in the light of the new Article 6a inserted by the Amsterdam Treaty which states that áthe Council, acting unanimously on a proposal from the Commission and after consulting the European Parliament, may take appropriate action to combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientationí. (1) SEC(97) 2416. SEC(97) 2417. (98/C 323/96) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0781/98 by Glenys Kinnock (PSE) to the Commission (18 March 1998) Subject: Street children in Guatemala Could the Commission please provide a brief evaluation of its programme of assistance for street children in Guatemala, which has been in operation since January 1996? Does it consider that any further measures should be taken to deal with this serious problem?