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(2004/C 65 E/171)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2453/03

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(23 July 2003)

Subject:   Eurostat: date of first discovery of fraud and ease with which contracts with businesses and amounts per business could be examined

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(22 September 2003)

The Commission answered these questions in hearings of the Cocobu and in particular in the hearings of 17 and 30 June 2003. As soon as information became available to it, the Commission immediately took the appropriate measures. In this respect, the Commission requests the Honourable Member to refer to the decisions of the Commission of 9 and 23 July 2003.

The general tone of the e-mail sent to the President on 13 November 2000, to which the Honourable Member refers, was polemical but the specific operational purpose of the message was vague. The author's thoughts on a number of issues, such as the comparative courage of certain Members of the Commission and prominent figures (Monnet, Schuman), were included alongside other, sometimes rather cryptic, remarks. In short, it was difficult for the uninformed reader to understand the true purpose of this correspondence. In accordance with normal practice in such cases, this e-mail was passed on directly to the service concerned (in this instance, Eurostat) to deal with as appropriate. Eurostat acted on what appeared to be the ‘operational’ section of the document, i.e. the author's declared interest in the publication of an internal audit report on Eurocost. The answer given described the factual situation with the dossier at that point, i.e. that the report in question had been sent to the competent services which were dealing with it in accordance with the confidentiality rules applicable in such cases.

On 11 June 2003 the Commission mandated the Internal Audit Service to carry out an audit of Eurostat contracts. On 9 July 2003 the Commission received a first interim report from Internal Audit Service (IAS) and an analysis by DG BUDG of the audit reports established by the Internal Audit Capabilities on Eurostat and decisions were taken accordingly and communicated to the Parliament. In particular, a special Task Force under the authority of the Director of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has been set up. Following the decision of the Commission of 23 July 2003, the duty of the Task Force Eurostat (TFES) is to prepare a report for the Commission regarding the different administrative aspects of Eurostat files. Both the TFES and the IAS work continue. It is the declared intention of the Commission to keep the Parliament regularly informed on these matters.

In the context of the 2001 Discharge, the Commission has already stated that it currently establishing a central contract database. The information required by the Honourable Member has to be obtained via the data warehouse application which provides data on budgetary appropriations committed in favour of third parties. In its replies to other recent Parliamentary Questions, the Commission has already given detailed information on commitments with and payments to most of the entities mentioned by the Honourable Member.

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