WRITTEN QUESTION P-2165/99

by Guido Viceconte (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(19 November 1999)

Subject: Internal restructuring of the Commission

According to unofficial information reported in the European press, as part of the Commission's internal restructuring a senior official from the President's private office is preparing to become Director-General of the Enterprise Directorate-General.

1. Does the Commission not consider that such an appointment, in addition to conflicting with the statements made by President Prodi on a number of occasions, may trigger a process of nepotism and parachuting, which has several times been condemned by the European Parliament and which was regarded as being one of the aspects of bad management laid at the door of the Santer Commission?

2. President Prodi has stressed that the abolition of national quotas for senior posts is a great achievement; does the Commission not consider that this approach (which is, moreover, premature, because European integration is still far from being completed) may give rise to national imbalances and reward those countries which contribute less, politically and financially, to the process of European integration, by introducing a system of co-option which could simply favour special interests and personal networks?

Joint answer to Written Questions P-2165/99 and E-2213/99 given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(19 January 2000)

The following details describe in full the procedure followed for filling the post of Director General of the Enterprise DG:

- the directory of the new Enterprise DG, established when former DG Industry and DG Enterprise Policy, Distributive Trades, Tourism and Social Economy were merged as part of the Commission's internal reorganisation, was approved by Commission decision of 3 November 1999;

- notice COM/116/99 advertising the post of Director-general of the Enterprise DG, approved by the Commission on 5 October 1999, was published under Article 29(1)(a) and (c) of the Staff Rules in Vacancy Notices No 40 of 5 October 1999 and the closing date for applications was set at 19 October 1999;

- in response to the abovementioned Vacancy Notice, six candidates applied under Article 29(1)(a) of the Staff Rules and one candidate was recorded under Article 29(1)(c) of the Staff Rules;

- in accordance with the new procedure for appointments to grades A1 and A2 approved by the Commission on 18 September 1999, at its meeting of 28 October 1999 the Consultative Committee on Appointments considered all the applications for the post of director-general of the Enterprise DG by reference to the Vacancy Notice setting out the qualifications required of the appointee.

In the light of that Notice, the Committee concluded that three candidates from this first stage of the selection procedure would be called to a full interview with the Consultative Committee on Appointments, enlarged to include a special assessor and an outside specialist in recruitment.

Taking account of the preliminary opinion of 28 October 1999, and following the interviews of the candidates invited, the Committee reached the conclusion that two applicants met all the requirements for the post in question and could be considered for the appointment.

Following this conclusion of the Committee and after an intensive examination of the dossiers of the applicants, the Commission appointed on 8 December 1999 Mr Fabio Colasanti as new Director General of the Enterprise DG.

The rigour of the procedure followed unique within the Institutions underlines the absolute determination of the Commission to fully respect the commitments made in relation to nominations at a high level. The relevant rules make specific provision to prevent any discrimination in relation to certain categories of personnel in the framework of the nomination procedure.

The Commission has publicly made clear that the highest premium is given to merit and that balanced representation of all nationalities of the Union at all levels of the institution's staff hierarchy is essential in order to reflect the cultural richness and the cohesion of the multinational public service of the Union. Any serious, lasting imbalance affecting any particular nationality must therefore be avoided.

The Commission can reassure the Honourable Members of its determination to ensure that the process of European integration is fair and transparent.