WRITTEN QUESTION E-2849/97 by Edith Müller (V) to the Commission (11 September 1997)

Subject: EU policy in the former Yugoslavia

The Commission services entrusted with the EU's diverse aid and reconstruction activities on the territory of former Yugoslavia seem to have been subject to frequent redeployments of staff. This may - next to the understaffing of the respective service - have damaged the continuity of the programmes and the smoothness of the reconstruction process.

Can the Commission provide a complete organigramme of the respective services in DG 1A (including delegations and technical assistance) from 1995 until now by post (or function for TA) including each redeployment (replacement/reorganization/ ...) by indication of date and function?

Answer given by Mr Van den Broek on behalf of the Commission (27 October 1997)

The Commission has taken three measures to cope with its political and administrative tasks relating to countries formerly part of Yugoslavia.

Firstly, it took steps in December 1995 to set up an internal inter-departmental working party and the first representative office, in Sarajevo.

This was done by internal redeployment because the amendment by the budgetary authority providing for the spending of ECU 100 million on former Yugoslavia did not include any additional staff. Commission representation on the spot was covered by a combination of redeployment and the use of four new posts granted by the budgetary authority for the unified external service (operating costs having been covered by the PHARE programme during the first ten months of 1996).

Secondly, the Commission decided on 26 November 1996 to make a number of adjustments to the organisation chart of the Directorate-General for External Relations: Europe and the New Independent States, Common Security Policy and External Service with the aim in particular of bringing together in Directorate D (Relations with other European countries) political relations and administration of instruments relating to all countries formerly part of Yugoslavia (except Slovenia, responsibility for which was transferred to Directorate B, Relations with Central Europe) and Albania. Unit D1 has been replaced by two new units whose spheres of responsibility are as follows:

D1 - Bosnia-Herzegovina and reconstruction, including international coordination; Horizontal questions and multinational programmes in aid of former Yugoslavia.

D2 - Albania, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Croatia, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

These transfers of responsibilities went hand-in-hand with transfers in both directions of staff responsible for administering the related files. In the light of the available human resources, and in the interests of administrative efficiency, it is planned to give Unit D1 entire responsibility for the implementation of financial assistance to the countries concerned and to assign to it the personnel responsible for dealing with that task. Naturally, the head of Unit D2 will also be able to call on the personnel of Unit D1, so that instruments will be administered by agreement between the heads of both units. Internal arrangements will be adopted to make clear the allocation of staff between the two new geographical units.

The new unit dealing with former Yugoslavia also gained from the new financial direction of 1 October 1996 concerning budgetary tasks in contracts, finance and evaluation.

Lastly, it is possible that at the end of 1997 the Commission may decide to carry out further adjustments at headquarters to take advantage of experience and to improve the efficiency of management in the implementation of Community reconstruction programmes.

The more detailed information requested is being sent direct to the Honourable Member and Parliament's Secretariat by the Commission.

The Commission agrees with the Honourable Member that there have been frequent redeployments. These were necessitated because this Directorate-General has had to adapt itself, within the constraints of virtually constant staff numbers in recent years, to the need to administer increasingly large budgets (in particular for Phare).

It has also had to strengthen its internal expertise by calling in contract and auxiliary personnel, whose limited-term contracts and excessive mobility do not make it any easier to run reconstruction programmes. This situation is not confined to programmes in aid of former Yugoslavia and has been highlighted in the annual report of the Court of Auditors since 1994, but it is keenly felt in the case of former Yugoslavia. It is this shortage of staff which is holding back the establishment of a network of representations throughout the countries formerly part of Yugoslavia.