WRITTEN QUESTION E-1337/02

by Carlos Lage (PSE) to the Commission

(13 May 2002)

Subject: Management of the European Schools

The European Schools were set up with the aim of providing the children of European officials living abroad with an education compatible with the school curriculum in their own countries.

Precisely because they are living away from their roots, it is important that officials should be able to ensure their children normal schooling, with continuity in teaching and psychological and emotional security.

Recently about 300 families the children of whom attend one of the three schools in Brussels were faced with a decision taken by the Board of Governors of the European Schools, according to which their children will change school as of September 2002.

This decision was taken quite arbitrarily, without any respect for the choice made by the parents on the basis of the educational interests of their children and their own professional obligations.

In view of this, can the Commission say:

1. to what extent the European Schools, in particular those in Brussels, satisfy the needs of the officials and other servants of the EU institutions;

2. to what extent respect for the principles set out in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, in particular Articles 24(2) and 41, is ensured;

3. how the European Schools are managed?

- how they are funded and what percentage is paid by each participant?

- what role is played by the European Commission in the Board of Governors? How many votes the Commission has on the Board?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(8 July 2002)

In order to obtain general background to the issue which is of interest to him the Honourable Member should refer to the information given by the Commission in its answer to written question E-0980/02 from Mr Stavros Xarchakos(1).

On 1 and 3, the Commission refers the Honourable Member to its answer to written question E-0944/02 from Ms Ilda Figueiredo(2).

On question 2, the European Schools are not bodies of the Union in the sense of Article 51 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The legal basis for the European Schools is the 1957 intergovernmental Statute of the European School. The fundamental rights mentioned by the Honourable Member are, consequently, ensured by provisions of national law and international agreements such as the 1989 New York Convention on the Rights of the Child. As the Commission indicated in its answer to written question E-0944/02 from Ms Ilda Figueiredo, the Board of Governors of the European Schools took steps to ensure that any transfer of pupils between schools in Brussels respected the fundamental rights mentioned by the Honourable Member.

The Commission has a representative Member on the Board of Governors and, consequently, one vote. The Board is an intergovernmental body that is otherwise made up of representatives of each of the Member States who usually come from the Education ministries of those countries.

(1) OJ C 277 E, 14.11.2002, p. 119.

(2) OJ C 277 E, 14.11.2002, p. 112.