WRITTEN QUESTION E-0558/00

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(29 February 2000)

Subject: Reassignment of Commission staff

In view of the reduction in the workload of the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs, given the successful conclusion of the third stage of monetary union, and in view of the very sharp increase in the workload of the Directorate-General for Competitions, given the sharp increase in European mergers and acquisitions, has the Commission taken any measures to reassign staff from the one to the other? If not, why not?

Answer given by Mrs Schreyer on behalf of the Commission

(17 April 2000)

The preparation of the introduction of the euro on 1 February 1999 required intensive preparatory work by the Directorate general for Economic and financial affairs (DG ECFIN)(1) in co-operation with other Commission services.

Since the launch of the euro, an essential part of DG ECFIN's activities has been redirected towards ensuring economic and monetary union (EMU)'s smooth functioning. This reorientation has been accompanied by an important modification of DG ECFIN's organizational structure in early 1999. Besides the increased importance of economic policy co-ordination and multilateral surveillance (including the Broad economic policy guidelines, the Stability and growth pact, excessive deficit procedure, Cardiff process, Cologne process, etc.), the advent of the euro has also brought a number of other important issues to the forefront, such as the integration of financial markets and the external aspects of EMU, all of which have contributed to DG ECFIN's workload since 1999.

It should also be kept in mind that important parts of DG ECFIN's work are not directly euro-linked. This applies for instance to most of the activities of the directorate for international affairs, the economic evaluation directorate (in charge of the economic analysis of the different Community policy areas), the financial directorate (in charge of financial market analysis, capital movements, etc.), the Financial operations service in Luxembourg, etc. The Commission can not therefore concur with the view that the introduction of the euro has decreased DG ECFIN's overall workload.

The Commission is fully aware of the sustained increase in the number of cases to be dealt with in the field of competition policy, in particular in the area of mergers. In order to face the growing workload, the Commission has reinforced the Competition Directorate general with around 50 staff units since 1998. However, this reinforcement only partially meets the actual needs of DG Competition, despite the motivation and commitment of its staff.

As done thus far, the Commission will continue to review critically its activities in order to shift resources towards core activities and new political priorities. Once all the possibilities for reallocation of existing human resources to priority areas are exhausted, the Commission will request additional human resources from the budget authority.

(1) Total ECFIN staff (permanent officials and temporary agents) amounts to 316 in Brussels and 108 in Luxembourg and represents about 2,1 % of total Commission staff.