A3-0419/93

Resolution on foundations and Europe

The European Parliament,

-having regard to the motion for a resolution by Mrs Llorca Vilaplana on cultural foundations in Europe (B3-0877/92),

-having regard to Rule 45 of its Rules of Procedure,

-having regard to the report of the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education and the Media (A3-0419/93),

A.whereas foundations, i.e. organizations set up as a result of private initiative, are quintessentially European, since they were first set up and subsequently developed and diversified in parallel with Europe as organizations through which citizens can jointly take responsibility for their democracies, and reflect the vicissitudes of its history,

B.whereas the foundations movement regained strength and vigour after the Second World War and, like the European Community itself, surmounts and opposes war and represents an expression of faith in peace, prosperity, creativity and voluntarism,

C.whereas foundations may be regarded as an essential factor in non-governmental organizations' recognition of their own responsibility for the development of society and for achieving greater freedom; whereas an objective assessment of modern foundations, particularly in the United States, credits them as stimulators of reform in medical research and organization and promoters of aid to universities and colleges, as agencies responsible for the development of public libraries and for encouraging the first rocket research, as champions of the fight against usury and poverty and for equal rights, particularly between black people and white people, as modernizers of the urban environment and industrial sociology, dispensers of technical and cultural assistance to developing countries, protectors of the environment, etc.,

D.whereas, since the inception of the EEC, foundations have been considered capable of contributing to European integration; whereas the Commission and, especially, the European Parliament have on many occasions demonstrated their interest in foundations; whereas Parliament has concerned itself with the setting up of foundations, and whereas the Commission has sought the assistance of the foundations and aided organizations which encourage foundations - regrettably, in certain cases, without first fully informing the appropriate parliamentary committees and the European Parliament itself,

E.whereas there is a need to define the legal and fiscal parameters within which European foundations are to operate, whereas these parameters should be broad enough to accommodate the specific features of foundations in the different Member States and precise enough to allow effective Community action if deemed necessary,

F.having regard to the advisability of eliminating the legal and fiscal barriers which stand in the way of foundations wishing to operate at European level through appropriate measures aimed at facilitating, while fully respecting the principle of subsidiarity, the development of their transnational activities, and the possibility of giving transnational donations the same advantages as national donations;

G.whereas in the current period, where the process of European integration has lost impetus, it seems particularly appropriate to encourage the voluntary sector and promote foundations, especially if they are effectively involved in accelerating European Union and promoting the values on which this is based,

H.whereas, while Community support for education and culture in the 1994 budget does not meet the expectations created by Maastricht, and while the Commission has been slow in developing the actions required by Articles 126 and 128 of the EC Treaty, the activities of cultural foundations committed to European Union could counterbalance to some extent the slowness of institutional responses to new challenges, providing that their funding is genuinely additional to that of the EC,

1.Recognizes the importance of charitable organizations and foundations in the modern world and therefore welcomes the increase in bibliographical material and other information on this subject, the on-going publication of national lists of foundations and the development of the ORPHEUS programme by the European Foundations Centre which seeks to provide an exhaustive list of foundations and a complete typology and calls on the Commission to encourage the development of such initiatives;

2.Notes that the Commission and Parliament have on occasion called for the establishment and maintenance of broadly-based, multi-purpose European foundations, either within those institutions or as an off-shoot or in close cooperation with them, but considers that such a measure, which is somewhat interventionist and centralizing in nature, would be of less benefit to the Community and the European Union than a Community strategy for independent foundations which stimulates voluntary work, initiative, creativity and competition;

3.Welcomes the increase in the number of foundations in the second half of this century and the appearance in recent years of information centres devoted to reciprocal relations between foundations and the grouping of foundations;

4.Notes that the foundations movement has acquired prestige owing to the wave of privatization and liberalization, with foundations mushrooming in various countries, and considers that when they seek private donations they should, for the benefit of the public, stipulate the bases on which they are set up;

5.Takes the view that the Commission itself should consider how to facilitate, legally and fiscally, the operation of foundations wishing to operate on a European scale and examine the viability, while fully respecting the subsidiarity principle, of giving 'transfrontier' donations the same advantages as national foundations, while excluding any discrimination against Community foundations on the basis of nationality;

6.Recommends that foundations operating on a European scale should not receive aid unless they respect the principles of sound practice and, possibly, in the course of time, the voluntary code of conduct referred to in paragraphs 10 and 13 below;

7.Requests that the legal and fiscal facilities referred to in paragraph 5 should be directed at the transfrontier activities of foundations but that, in order to benefit them generally, consideration should be given to extending the most favourable existing arrangements, as the final declaration of the Santiago de Compostela seminar of 1989 demanded;

8.Suggests that there should be support for European foundation networks and partnerships between foundations of different countries, Community or otherwise, particularly in the case of joint or similar projects, provided that the funds encourage the European dimension of their work and are truly additional to their core resources;

9.Warns that a policy to support foundations would naturally require, on their part, clear compliance with the statutory provisions and administrative law of their country of establishment, and that Community encouragement would also presuppose total transparency, the publication of their statutes, resources, accounts, activity reports and action programmes;

10.Notes with interest the conclusions of seminars such as the abovementioned seminar of Santiago de Compostela and the meeting in Prague (1993) and hopes that the relations currently being established with European foundations will encourage them voluntarily to adopt a code of conduct such as has already been adumbrated in the Prague declaration and consistent provisions to which they aspire (same text) in the legal and fiscal field to promote their activities;

11.Considers that foundations which are an instrument of culture and progress, and not an end in themselves, should be able to manage their assets and incomes as they wish, providing they respect their non-profit-making nature and their declared objective of serving the public interest;

12.Considers the possible disadvantages, in the case of foundations, of perpetuity, indefinite duration, duration beyond the limits of the mission accomplished, or of an exhaustion of usefulness and distortion of aim to the detriment of the public good, and therefore recognizes the principle of possible dissolution by a decision of the appropriate courts following action taken by any appropriate Government agency, as occurs in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the Anglo-Saxon countries;

13.Stresses that the public adoption by foundations of a voluntary code of conduct, as provided for in paragraph 10 above, should prevent tax fraud by groups which are foundations only in name;

14.Hopes that, by developing a cooperative strategy for encouraging philanthropic giving, the Community will promote the principles of best practice, stimulate competition and contribute to a climate in which foundations prosper without using Community funds to create artificial new structures for which a need has not been properly demonstrated;

15.Welcomes the vigour with which foundations are being established in the former communist countries and considers that the relationship between these and Community foundations will be of benefit to both parties, will help to create open societies in those countries and contribute to the successful enlargement of the Community;

16.Calls on foundations, businesses, patrons of the arts and arts organizations, information centres on foundations and associations of foundations, together with the Commission, to grant those foundations in the former communist countries which merit it appropriate logistic and financial assistance;

17.Advocates the development of partnerships between foundations carrying out similar activities in order to optimize results through concerted action on a European scale;

18.Points out that special encouragement should be given to those foundations that are engaged in the drawing-up and development of responses and dynamic initiatives in line with the sociological needs of contemporary society, and in particular to those engaged in defending democracy, promoting solidarity, fostering the well-being of citizens, extending human rights, protecting the environment and financing cultural events, and those involved in science, health care and research;

19.Desires that the typology of foundations which is being developed as part of the ORPHEUS programme should define them in detail according to the various criteria, in particular the nature of the founders, the source and flow of funding, scope, longevity, modus operandi and nature of project, and classify them according to the resources available;

20.Therefore looks to the Commission to draw up, on the basis of the recommendations contained in this resolution, a document on relations between the foundations and the European Union and submit it to Parliament which should hold a major hearing on this subject involving foundations and centres or groups of relevant foundations, with a view to drawing up a suitable instrument;

20.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council and the governments of the Member States.