WRITTEN QUESTION E-2321/02

by Stavros Xarchakos (PPE-DE)and Ioannis Marínos (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(26 July 2002)

Subject: Council of Europe report concerning public service corruption in Greece

A report by Council of Europe inspectors regarding public service corruption in Greece, reveals that major financial interests and politics are largely interwoven, thereby encouraging corrupt practices. The authors of the report spent a long period in Greece visiting numerous Greek official bodies and public companies. They indicate that Community funding and major property development projects relating to the 2004 Olympics also provide a hotbed of corruption and that such practices also occur on a large scale at international level, probably involving organised crime (illegal immigration, prostitution, falsification of temporary residence permits for foreigners, etc.).

Is the Commission aware of the content of this report? What view does it take of public service corruption in Greece? What information does it have regarding the corrupt use of Community funds in Greece and how does the situation compare with that of other Member States receiving similar Community funding with a view to achieving economic convergence?

Answer given by Mrs Schreyer on behalf of the Commission

(15 October 2002)

It appears the Honourable Members make reference to the evaluation of Greece by the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), a peer review mechanism under the auspices of the Council of Europe. Greece was evaluated during a visit of examiners from Portugal and Slovenia in November 2001. GRECO adopted the report of the visit at its ninth plenary meeting in May 2002. However, the Greek authorities have still not lifted the confidentiality of the report and GRECO has not yet made it publicly available on its website. Therefore, the Commission is unable to make further comments on it.

Secondly, the Commission assures the Honourable Members of its determination to prevent and to combat all forms of corruption at all levels within the Union and inside the European institutions. The Union policy against corruption is mainly based on criminal law instruments adopted under Title VI of the Treaty on European Union(1) (ex-article K.3 of the Maastricht Treaty). Greece has ratified all three of these anti-corruption instruments. However, it is not the Commission's role to establish lists or indices showing the degree of corruption in certain Member States, mindful that such lists can only be subjective impressions depending on the parameters and indicators used for these purposes. However, useful information on this topic can be found in the Organised Crime Situation Report established annually by Europol.

Concerning the alleged corrupt use of Community funds in Greece, the sectoral regulations as well as the horizontal regulations regarding protection of the European Communities financial interests, require the Member States to forward to the Commission (OLAF) information considered pertinent which the Member States hold relating to the fight against fraud, corruption and any other illegal activity affecting the Communities' financial interests. The Member States are not, however, required to transmit to the Commission (OLAF) information on matters regarding corruption of national public officials, as such actions constitute an infraction of national law. Current officials of OLAF are not aware of having received any information regarding the corrupt use of community funds in Greece. The Commission is therefore not able to carry out a comparative study as it does not have the necessary elements to do so.

In this context the Commission would like to draw the attention of the Honourable Members to the Commission's annual report on protection of the Communities' financial interests and fight against fraud(2) which gives useful general information, inter alia, on investigations in the area of structural funds and cohesion funds, as well as an overview of the anti-fraud measures taken by the Member States.

Lastly, for the 2000-2006 programme period, Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 of 21 June 1999 laying down the general provisions on the Structural Funds(3) provides for the creation of reinforced structures for planning, follow-up and verification in order to improve the utilisation of these Funds.

(1) (First) Protocol to the Convention on the protection of the European Communities' financial interests (PIF-Convention) of 27 September 1996, the Convention on the fight against corruption involving officials of the European Communities or officials of Member States of the European Union of 26 May 1997 and the Second Protocol to the PIF-Convention of 19 June 1997.

(2) COM(2002) 348.

(3) OJ L 161, 26.6.1999, p. 1.