WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1515/98 by Helena TORRES MARQUES to the Commission. Statistics on women
11. 12. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 386/141 (98/C 386/195) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1515/98 by Helena Torres Marques (PSE) to the Commission (13 May 1998) Subject: Statistics on women At the 1997 meeting of the Commissionersí Working Party on Equal Opportunities, Commissioner Wulf-Mathies announced that statistics would be available as from June 1997 on positive actions in the field of equal opportunities and that they would be published in a brochure. Can the Commission say what progress has been made in this connection and forward the relevant statistical data? Answer given by Mr Flynn on behalf of the Commission (19 June 1998) Statistical data on equal opportunities for women and men are published each year in the Commission Annual Report on equal opportunities for women and men in the European Unioní. This publication provides a good overview of recent data on the issue. The second edition (corresponding to 1997) was adopted by the Commission on 13 May 1998 and a copy is sent direct to the Honourable Member and to Parliamentís Secretariat. Furthermore, the Commission publishes regularly in its publication Statistics in Focusí recent data on equal opportunities for women and men. In 1997, it published the results of the survey on the structure of earnings (1) which provided data on the gender wage gap. (1) Spain, France, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Statistics in Focus No 15/97. (98/C 386/196) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1517/98 by Claudia Roth (V) to the Commission (13 May 1998) Subject: Commission funds paid to the Federal Office for the Recognition of Foreign Refugees In the EU bulletin of 28 January 1998 published by the German Commission representation it was reported that the Federal Office for the Recognition of Foreign Refugees (BAFI) in Nürnberg receives funds from the Commission to pay for independent legal advice for asylum seekers at Frankfurt Airport. Is the Commission aware that in a judgment of 1996 the Federal Constitutional Court called on the German federal authorities to set up an independent legal advice service? Does the Commission take the view that the limited means available for work with asylum seekers should be paid to national authorities?