EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 84/307

(2004/C 84 E/0355)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0121/04

by Antonio Di Pietro (ELDR) to the Commission

(26 January 2004)

Subject: Integrated waste management in the municipality of Casale sul Sile (Treviso)

By virtue of Decision No 25 of 22 October 2002, and without issuing a call for tenders, the municipality of Casale sul Sile (Treviso) became a member of the Priula inter-municipal consortium, which is the body responsible for the TV2 basin created in 1987 to facilitate the comprehensive management of urban waste for all participating municipalities. The consortium has subcontracted the waste removal operations to the firm Contarina SpA, in which it is the majority shareholder.

The decision specifies the following requirements for membership: acquisition, as a minimum associative share, of 0,1 of the consortium's stock, calculated on the basis of the consortium's net assets and equivalent to around EUR 30 000; acceptance of the provisions of the consortium's memorandum and articles of association and subsequent amendments thereto; delegation to the consortium of the urban waste management service and the application and collection of the fees arising therefrom.

The text of the decision also specifies that the management of the service shall be ‘direct, in that the consortium emanates from the associate bodies’ and that ‘the (municipal) administration did not have sufficient time at its disposal to launch a European-type invitation to tender and at the same time was not prepared to prolong the contract of the company that had been managing the service’. In an article published in the municipal journal, the mayor stated that launching a European tendering procedure meant admitting the successful company ‘solely on the basis of economic criteria, with difficulties as regards direct intervention in the organisation or quality of the service’.

Does the Commission not consider the procedure described above to contravene the principles of transparency and competition laid down in Community provisions and Community law, since the contracting authority has assigned the complete management of a public service to a contracting consortium that it has selected directly, and of which it has moreover become a member, thereby also creating a conflict of interests?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(4 March 2004)

The municipality of Casale sul Sile's awarding of waste management services to which the Honourable Member refers is an instance of the more general problem of Italian legislation governing the forms of management and awarding of local public services.

As the Commission previously explained in its reply to the Honourable Member's Written Question No 555/03 (1), this legislation is currently the subject of infringement proceedings under Article 226 of the EC Treaty. In the course of this procedure, the Commission sent Italy a letter of formal notice in 2000 and a supplementary letter of formal notice in 2002.

Laws No 326 of 24 November 2003 and No 350 of 24 December 2003 recently reformed the local public services sector in Italy.

The Commission will examine the new legislative framework as established by the above-mentioned laws and decide accordingly what action should be taken with regard to the infringement proceedings against Italy.

(1) OJ C 222 E, 18.9.2003.