WRITTEN QUESTION E-0972/00 by Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Aid from Community funds.
6. 3. 2001 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 72 E/11 Spainís proposed rural development programmes, presented on 30 December 1999, are under examination in the Commission. Early approval is expected. (1) OJ L 160, 26. 6. 1999. (2) OJ L 215, 30. 7. 1992. (2001/C 72 E/012) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0972/00 by Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL) to the Commission (31 March 2000) Subject: Aid from Community funds Over 150 workers at Lisnave ü Lisbon Naval Shipyards Ltdí have been waiting for 15 years to be taken on again by this undertaking, having been forcibly dismissed a move which they have never accepted. It is now reported that Lisnaveí or Gestnave ü Industrial Services Ltdí, the successor company, received aid from Community funds. In view of the above, will the Commission say: 1. What Community funds were allocated to these undertakings? 2. In allocating Community funds, was due attention paid to the need to maintain jobs? Supplementary answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission (27 July 2000) According to information provided by the Portuguese authorities, the undertakings Lisnave Estaleiros Navais S. A. and Gestenave Prestaçªo de Serviços Industriais S. A. (both of which emerged from the restructuring of Lisnave Estaleiros Navais de Lisboa S. A. ) received European Social Fund (ESF) funding during the period 1994-1999 for vocational training activities. Gestenave Prestaçªo de Serviços Industriais S. A. obtained ESF co-financing to the tune of € 5 041 072 under the Vocational Training and Employmentí Operational Programme (OP), for a total of 842 000 hours of training and 1 542 beneficiaries. These beneficiaries were employees and unemployed workers (ex-employees of SODIA). The re-training enabled the unemployed workers to be taken on by Gestenave or other undertakings and enabled others to start up self-employment projects. Lisnave Estaleiros Navais S. A. obtained co-financing to the tune of € 3 711 295 under the Industryí Subprogramme (PEDIP II) of the Modernisation of the Economic Fabricí OP, for a total of 501 000 hours of training and 1 907 beneficiaries. These beneficiaries were employees and young persons without vocational qualifications who were due to replace those workers who had signed up for the early retirement programme included in the restructuring plan. Due to falling orders, Lisnave was not able to give all these young people jobs and has promoted efforts to find work for them in other undertakings in the same sector or in the region. To this end, Lisnave has set up an employment observatory to monitor the employability of these young persons. Although the figures available so far are scanty, they give grounds for optimism