92002E1441

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1441/02

by James Fitzsimons (UEN) to the Commission

(15 May 2002)

Subject: 'Europass' beneficiaries

The Commission has just announced that 20 000 Europasses for training purposes have been allocated since the initiative came into operation in 2000.

Will the Commission provide a break-down by nationality of this scheme and the type of courses followed?

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(10 June 2002)

The Commission thanks the Honourable Member for his interest in the Europass Training initiative, which was established by Decision 1999/51/EC of the Council of 21 December 1998 on the promotion of European pathways in work-linked training, including apprenticeship(1). The specific objective of the Decision is to encourage periods of vocational training in other Member States and contribute to their quality.

The Commission has adopted on 2 May 2002 and submitted to the Parliament and the Council its report on the implementation of the Decision(2).

This report, which is required by Article 9 of the Decision 1999/51/EC, offers a picture of the first two years of implementation. In particular, it contains information on the dissemination of Europass-Training documents, including a break-down per country.

Table 3 of the Report (page 14) shows the break-down per country of origin (Union + European Economic Area countries) of European pathways recorded by Europass Training documents of November 2001:

>TABLE>

As concerning the type of course, about three quarters of Europass Training holders were in education or training at secondary or upper secondary level; lower and higher levels of education each account for 10-15 % of the cases.

Further findings include the following:

- the duration of the traineeships abroad varied between 3 and 15 weeks;

- a slight majority of Europass Training holders were women (about 55 %);

- a strong majority of Europass Training holders were between 17 and 23 years old.

A substantial number of European pathways come under the Leonardo da Vinci programme, though the proportion varies considerably from one country to another (30 to 100 %). In some countries bilateral or national initiatives account for up to 50 % of the European pathways.

(1) The Decision was adopted on 21 December 1998, OJ L 17, 22.1.1999, it entered into force on 1 January 2000.

(2) Report from the Commission to the Parliament and the Council: Report on the implementation of the Decision 1999/51/EC of the Council of 21 December 1998 on the promotion of European pathways in work-linked training, including apprenticeship, COM(2002) 214 final.