WRITTEN QUESTION E-1890/03

by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(6 June 2003)

Subject: Director-General of Eurostat

Could the Commission confirm that the companies Institut TES, CESD-Communautaire and Deba were all founded by Director-General of Eurostat Yves Franchet?

Could the Commission give details of these companies and the date at which the Commission knew of the involvement of Yves Franchet?

Could the Commission forward to me a list of all the payments and grants which Institut TES, CESD-Communautaire and Deba received from the EU budget?

Could the Commission give details of all contracts which were concluded with these companies without a prior call for tenders and the amounts involved in each one?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(22 September 2003)

Institut TES

Institut TES (Training of European Statisticians) is a non-profit-making association set up under Luxembourg law on 12 November 1996 by representatives of 11 national statistical offices of Member States, the national statistical offices of the European Free Trade Area (EFTA), and the Luxembourg University Centre.

Mr Yves Franchet was not one of the founder members of Institut TES in 1996. But he and two directors of Eurostat did join as members of the Institute on the day Institut TES was set up.

In a letter to Institut TES dated 16 April 1997 Mr Franchet told the chairman that he had decided to resign his place as a member of the general meeting. He also confirmed that the other Eurostat members were resigning with immediate effect.

CESD-Communautaire

The Centre Européen de formation des Statisticiens économistes des pays en voie de développement (CESD) was a non-profit-making association set up under Luxembourg law on 29 February 1989. On 26 May of the same year an extraordinary general meeting decided to amend its constitution, which now stated that its name, Centre européen de formation des Statisticiens-Économistes des Pays en voie de développement, was to be abbreviated to CESD-Communautaire.

The amended constitution of 26 May 1989 gives the title of privileged member to the Director-General of Eurostat and to others such as the heads of the national statistical offices in the Member States and the Commission's Directors-General for External Relations and for Development. Privileged members can become full members of the association simply by making a statement to that effect, without the need for a decision by the general meeting. Mr Franchet was chairman of CESD-Communautaire until 1995.

In a letter to the chairman of CESD-Communautaire dated 16 April 1997 Mr Franchet said he had decided to resign his place as a member of the general meeting. He also confirmed that the other Eurostat members were resigning with immediate effect.

DEBA

Data for European Business Analysis (DEBA GEIE) was a European economic interest grouping set up in Luxembourg on 17 February 1992.

Articles 6 and 8 of its constitution stated that the following were members:

- the Commission, represented by Eurostat, with 50 % of the total votes;

- European organisations representing staff working in the sector, with 25 % of the total votes;

- national or European cross-industry employers' organisations, with 25 % of the votes.

Eurostat officially withdrew on 31 December 1997, which in accordance with Article 7 of the constitution entailed the winding up and liquidation of the grouping.

The Commission's information on the participation of Eurostat in these bodies:

- A Commission communication of 17 October 1995 authorised Eurostat to continue participating in Eurocost, CESD-Communautaire and DEBA for the present, and accepted that its participation should be phased out(1). In line with that decision, Mr Franchet wrote to the Chef de Cabinet to Mr de Silguy, Member of the Commission, on 2 May 1997, to inform him that no member of Eurostat was any longer a member of the decision-making bodies of TES, CESD or Eurocost. He pointed out that the constitution of DEBA did not allow a member to resign. A change in the constitution had accordingly been sought. The Eurostat members of DEBA's decision-making bodies finally resigned in December 1997, as described above.

- Tables containing the information requested have been sent directly to the Honourable Member. In particular, Table 1 shows payments by all Directorates-General to Institut TES in the years 1997 to 2003. Table 2 shows payments by all Directorates-General to CESD-Communautaire in the years 1992 to 2003, and Table 3 shows payments by all Directorates-General to DEBA in the years 1992 to 2002.

(1) SEC(95) 1684.