WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2624/98 by Marlies MOSIEK-URBAHN to the Commission. Programme for senior citizens based on the 'European voluntary service for young people'
C 96/126 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 8. 4. 1999 The Team Europe 1997 activity questionnaire gives a very good picture of the membersí activities and which audiences they reach. In 1997, the members of Team Europe were in direct live contact with over 300 000 people, who had the opportunity to question them and receive answers about Community policy. The report together with a summary is sent direct to the Honourable Member and to the Parliamentís Secretariat. Finally, Team Europe has just undergone an external evaluation and the Commission is awaiting the evaluation report, which naturally will be available to the Honourable Member. (1999/C 96/179) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2624/98 by Marlies Mosiek-Urbahn (PPE) to the Commission (1 September 1998) Subject: Programme for senior citizens based on the European voluntary service for young peopleí The European voluntary service for young people between the ages of 18 and 25 is extremely popular; every year the European Commission finds placements for young people in the social sector, to give them the opportunity to spend a year working in another EU country gaining experience in the areas of the arts, environment, rural development, equal opportunities, health and so on. Senior citizens would also be very interested in the setting up of a similar programme to allow older people to spend a year doing voluntary work in another EU country with financial support from the EU so that they could get to know the country, its culture, language and people. Does the Commission plan to extend the successful voluntary scheme for young people to those over the age of 55? Answer given by Mme Cresson on behalf of the Commission (8 October 1998) The European voluntary service programme which has been recently adopted (Decision No 1686/98/EC of the Parliament and the Council of 20 July 1998 establishing the Community action programme European voluntary service for young peopleí (1)) aims to provide young people aged between 18 and 25 with an educational experience outside formal education schemes. The Commission has no plans at the moment to initiate a similar programme for older people. However, the Commission does recognise the importance of voluntary action as part of an active approach to ageing. The Commission is currently preparing a communication on issues affecting older people, including active ageing. This should be ready by the end of the year in time to feed into the policy debate surrounding the United Nations international year which, in 1999, has the theme of Towards a society for all agesí. (1) OJ L 214, 31. 7. 1998. (1999/C 96/180) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2637/98 by Otto von Habsburg (PPE), Hiltrud Breyer (V), Charles Goerens (ELDR), Klaus-Heiner Lehne (PPE), Claudia Roth (V), Wilmya Zimmermann (PSE) and Karl Habsburg-Lothringen (PPE) to the Commission Subject: Visa requirement for Bulgaria and Romania (1 September 1998) How, in the Commissionís opinion, can the strategy for bringing Bulgaria and Romania closer to the 1. European Union be reconciled with the visa requirement for their nationals?