WRITTEN QUESTION E-1328/00 by María Ayuso González (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Proposal for an European Parliament and Council regulation on the closure of the ECIP programme.
13. 2. 2001 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 46 E/171 Many European countries have set up organisations to help care for victims who are in need of psychological help. These organisations come together in the EFPPA, for example (European Federation of Professional Psychologists Associations), which has 30 member associations. Are there any projects in the EU which endeavour to organise assistance for victims of accidents in need of psychological support, or are there plans to set up such programmes at European level? Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission (16 June 2000) Under the Community action programme in the field of civil protection for 1998 and 1999 (Council Decision 98/22/EC of 19 December 1997 (1)), the Commission financed the following measures in the area of psychosocial help in the event of disasters, as part of the major disaster medicine project: self-training workshop on preparing those responsible for, and involved in, civil protection to deal with the psychosocial dimension of disasters; several workshops on the management of psychosocial monitoring in the case of collective emergencies; a workshop on psychosocial support in crisis situations. These activities led to the drafting of practical recommendations on the organisation of psychosocial support for those involved, victims and family members, which have been published on the Internet: http://europa. eu. int/comm/environment/civil/. Accordingly, within the framework of the Community action programme in the field of civil protection for 2000-2004 (Council Decision 1999/847/EC of 9 December 1999 (2)), Belgium has proposed a project relating to the management of psychosocial support in the case of disasters. The purpose of the project is to prepare a methodological guide, monitoring indicators and a system for training those responsible, covering the entire Community. A programme of Community action on injury prevention (Decision No 372/1999/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 February 1999 (3)) has been adopted in the area of public health, the main objective of which is to contribute to public health activities to reduce the incidence of injuries by promoting the epidemiological monitoring of injuries and exchanges of information on the use of these data in order to help to define priorities and improve prevention strategies. No projects relating to psychological support in the case of serious accident or natural disaster have yet been submitted. However, they could be considered, account being taken of the eligibility criteria, the annual priorities and the annual resources available. (1) OJ L 8, 14. 1. 1998. (2) OJ L 327, 21. 12. 1999. (3) OJ L 46, 20. 2. 1999. (2001/C 46 E/199) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1328/00 by María Ayuso GonzÆlez (PPE-DE) to the Commission (27 April 2000) Subject: Proposal for an European Parliament and Council regulation on the closure of the ECIP programme On 31 January 2000 the Commission published a proposal for an European Parliament and Council regulation on the implementation of the European Communities Investment Partners financial instrument (ECIP), in which it proposed the liquidation of the existing set of programmes (COM(1999) 0726). Is it true that in the more recent years of this programmeís life there have been procedural delays in the Commission in allocating projects? Can the Commission state whether in fact ECIP virtually ground to a halt in 1999, in the wake of the creation and entry into operation of the Joint Service for the management of Community Aid to Non-Member Countries, the resignation of the Commission and the reorganisation carried out within the new Commission? Is it true that these circumstances have led to certain requests, including Nos 3749 (Mercosur) and 3750 (Mexico), being accepted but not subsequently processed by the Approvals Committee? C 46 E/172 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 13. 2. 2001 Does the Commission not believe that the proposed measures run totally counter to the notions of ácontinuityí and ásound managementí, despite being presented as a piece of ásound financial managementí? In view of the circumstances, does the Commission not consider that the best solution would be to provide the interested parties with a detailed explanation of the underlying reasons for the liquidation of these projects? Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission (13 June 2000) The European Community Investment Partners scheme (ECIP) was launched in the 1990s and quickly flourished. It became increasingly difficult to manage, geared as it was initially to a small number of operations, because of various factors: the marked rise in the number of projects quickly outstripped the capacity of the available Commission staff to manage them -- recourse to a technical assistance unit (in 1997) and a financial assistance unit (in 1999) gradually helped to offset the staff shortage, but only in part -- and the tightening up of the Commissionís financial procedures in line with the observations of the Court of Auditors led to a delay in procedures (requiring a written procedure involving the Commission rather than the delegation procedure) and the separation of the technical and financial functions. As a result, payment arrears built up, though these have now largely been dealt with, and decision-making slowed down. Since the legal basis for the scheme expired on 31 December 1999 the ECIP programme has been in the process of closure, despite continued demand for financing, following the Commissionís decision to give exclusive priority in 2000 and 2001 to financial execution and closure of existing ECIP contracts and to recovering unused funds to be repaid. A letter to this effect has been sent to all the financial institutions concerned. Applications for operations Nos 3 749 and 3 750, received in June 1999, were not presented for approval by the Steering Committee for the reasons outlined above. (2001/C 46 E/200) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1336/00 by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission (4 May 2000) Subject: Measures to combat high unemployment in the Prefecture of Pieria In the Prefecture of Pieria in Greece, the unemployment rate is soaring towards 35 %. The main groups affected are young people, women and first-time job-seekers. The main factors contributing to this development are the severe blow to tourism in the region caused by the war in Kosovo ü the largest number of tourists to the area come from Central and Eastern Europe by road through Yugoslavia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) ü the fall in income from farming and the closure of many small, piece-rate based clothing manufacturers who mainly employed women. When approving the Third Community Support Framework, will the Commission take account of the special situation of the Prefecture of Pieria? What additional measures will be taken by the European Social Fund, in cooperation with the national authorities, to combat unemployment and create more jobs? Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission (6 June 2000) The Commission would like to clarify that according to the structural funds regulations (Regulation (EC) No 1784/1999 of the Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 1999 on the European Social Fund (1) and Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 of 21 June 1999 laying down general provisions on the Structural Funds (2)), responsibility for formulating and submitting proposals lies with the Member States