Brussels, 16/01/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday, the European Parliament will be discussing the report by Gabriele Steuner (CSU, Bavaria) on the Commission's final report on the implementation of the first phase of the Leonardo da Vinci programme (1995-1999). With the aim of ensuring that the final assessment report covers is not lacking in information to assess, Ms Steuner calls on the Commission to ensure that the interim reports on the implementation of Leonardo II (that should be submitted in June 2002 and June 2004) and the guidelines for the second half of the programme (due to be published in December 2004) be provided on time.
Gabriele Steuner criticised the fact that the final report on the implementation of the first phase has no information about the integration of gender mainstreaming and equal opportunities in the selected projects, which makes it difficult to assess the equal opportunities impact of the projects; and makes no mention of specific measures to help women return to work after a long period of absence, who could well benefit from professional training programmes. She also regrets that the Commission had not made an effort to identify and provide information about good practices in terms of equal opportunities. She recommends that in the future, greater emphasis should be placed on equal opportunities and calls in this connection for all the reports on Leonardo to be broken down by gender. She also believes that all the results from the Leonardo programme should be systematically integrated in other Community initiatives, particularly the European Social Fund and the European Employment Strategy. Disappointed at the level of results to date in terms of employment, the rapporteur calls for a co-ordination body to be set up at the Commission to co-ordinate the work of the relevant Directorate-Generals.