28 The European Schools
| (26389)
6603/05
COM(04) 519
| Commission Communication: consultation on options for developing the European Schools System
|
| Legal base | — |
| Department | Education and Skills
|
| Basis of consideration | Minister's letter of 7 September 2005
|
| Previous Committee Report | HC 38-xi (2004-05), para 2 (15 March 2005)
|
| To be discussed in Council | No date set
|
| Committee's assessment | Politically important
|
| Committee's decision | Cleared, but further information requested
|
Background
28.1 The first European School was set up in 1953. There are now
13 Schools in seven countries.[82]
They had over 19,200 pupils in 2004. The European Schools provide
free education for the children of the staff of the European Union's
institutions.[83] They
also provide free education for the children of the staff of the
permanent representatives of the Member States. Other children
pay fees to attend the Schools. The total running cost of the
Schools in 2004 was €222
million. The EC Budget provides almost 60% of the cost; 22% of
it is met by direct contributions from the Member States; nearly
all the rest comes from school fees.
28.2 The European Commission has one seat on the
Governing Board of the European Schools; the other seats are filled
by representatives of the Member States.
28.3 The Commission considers that the time has come
for an assessment of the effectiveness and efficiency of the system
and, in particular, of the arrangements for the governance, organisation
and financing of the Schools. The Communication outlined the issues,
proposed possible changes and invited comments by the end of June.
28.4 The main options outlined in the Communication
are:
- for a more equitable distribution
between Member States of the costs of the Schools or the abolition
of direct contributions from Member States;
- for the Administrative Board of each School to
take over some of the functions currently exercised by the Board
of Governors;
- for the European Parliament, the Court of Justice,
the Court of Auditors, the Economic and Social Committee and the
Committee of the Regions each to have a seat and a vote on the
Board of Governors;
- in the longer term, for an EU agency to be created
to administer the finances and operations of the Schools;
- for the Director of each School to be given more
financial and administrative autonomy and the Director, rather
than the Government of the Member State which seconds them, to
have the final say in the appointment of teachers; and
- for the Schools' curriculum to be widened to
provide more teaching in vocational and technical subjects and
to make more provision for special educational needs.
28.5 The then Minister of State for Lifelong Learning
and Further and Higher Education at the Department for Education
and Skills (Dr Kim Howells) told the previous Committee that the
Communication had no implications for the United Kingdom's own
educational policies. The United Kingdom provides a proportion
of the funding for the European Schools from its contribution
to the EU Budget. In addition, the Government pays £9 million
for the salaries of the 240 UK teachers seconded to the European
Schools and £382,000 to maintain the School at Culham.
28.6 The Minister said that the Government had pressed
for reforms of the kind proposed in the Communication but that
the Commission had not provided estimates of their effect on the
EU Budget and so it was not possible to judge the overall financial
impact of the proposals on the UK.
28.7 Our predecessors welcomed the Commission's proposal
for a review of the arrangements for the governance and organisation
of the European Schools and asked for a copy of the Government's
response to the Communication.
The Minister's letter of 7 September 2005
28.8 The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at
the Department for Education and Skills (Bill Rammell) has now
sent us a copy of the Government's response. It comments on each
of the options and explains what further clarification is needed.
In addition, the response says that:
"The UK is one of several member states
that make disproportionately high contributions to the European
Schools budget. There needs to be a much closer link between the
budget contribution and the number of pupils of different nationalities
in the system. If the governing body continues to ignore these
concerns, it should not be surprised if individual delegations
take action to correct the imbalance created by the present system
of funding.
"The UK delegation takes the view that EU
enlargement provides the opportunity, and highlights the need
for, far-reaching reform of the system. The main difficulties
facing the system are structural: high costs, serious delays in
decision-making (caused by the need for consensus in a 26-member
international governing body) and the absence of capacity for
strategic planning. Our strongly-held opinion is that these issues
need to be addressed and a debate held on the need for a longer-term
reform ....
"Finally, in the interests of making swift
progress on overdue reform, we wish to avoid the conventional
European Schools approach of setting up working groups to deliberate
further on these matters. We would hope that delegations' and
other stakeholders' responses to the Commission's Communication
will enable the formulation of a series of proposals to be put
to the Board of Governors at a specially-convened extraordinary
meeting."
Conclusion
28.9 We are grateful to the Minister for providing
us with a copy of the Government's clear and robust response to
the Communication. We see no further need to retain the document
under scrutiny but we ask the Minister to keep us informed of
the progress of the negotiations on the reform of the European
Schools system.
82 One at Culham in Oxfordshire; four in Belgium;
three in Germany; two in Luxembourg; and one each in Holland,
Italy and Spain. Back
83
The Commission and its agencies; the Council; the European Parliament;
the European Court of Justice; the Court of Auditors; the Economic
and Social Committee; and the Committee of the Regions. Back
| 
