WRITTEN QUESTION E-0569/99

by Nelly Maes (ARE) to the Commission

(12 March 1999)

Subject: ACP-EU Centre for the Development of Industry

The Centre for the Development of Industry (CDI) in Brussels is involved in a legal case before the Brussels Court of First Instance.

Can the Commission confirm the following facts in this case:

1. A parallel structure has been set up under the name Centre for the Development of Enterprise (CDE) thus creating considerable uncertainty as the to continued validity of agreements entered into by the CDI.

2. A new establishment plan was published on the Commission web site before any decision was taken to close down the CDI,

3. The director of CDE was appointed without any selection procedure and without the vacancy being published.

4. The temporary director of the CDI, Mr Mbayi, was turned out into the street with his family (four children, two of whom are of Belgian nationality) and was not paid for three years.

Is there any truth in the allegation that in March 1998 Commissioner Pinheiro was given a warning by the SFIE, the Union of International and European Civil Servants, on the last of these matters and is the Commission as a whole aware of this?

What steps has the Commission taken or will it take to prevent any possibility of the European institutions being discredited in the case before the Brussels Court of First Instance?

Finally, can the Commission say how much the ACP-EU CDE has received in grants from the European Development Fund since 1995?

Answer given by Mr Pinheiro on behalf of the Commission

(8 April 1999)

The Commission has not been notified of the ruling to which the Honourable Member refers, which apparently relates to a dispute between the Centre for the Development of Industry (CDI) and a former employee. Disputes between the CDI and its employees are subject to the dispute settlement procedures provided for in ACP-EU Council of Ministers Regulation No 1/92. The CDI Board (on which the Commission only has observer status) is not directly involved in the settlement of this type of dispute, but is kept informed of progress by the Centre's management, which represents the CDI in such cases.

Regarding the other explanations sought by the Honourable Member the Commission would make the following points.

1. In June 1998 the Council mandated the Commission to open negotiations with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries for a successor to the Lomé Convention. The mandate referred explicitly to the need to improve the impact of CDI activities by broadening the Centre's remit and converting it into a centre for the development of enterprise (CDE). The CDE is not, therefore, an existing parallel body but will be the Centre's new name under the cooperation agreement that succeeds Lomé, assuming the EU and ACP reach agreement.

2. The CDI is not a Community institution but an entity independent of the Commission, governed by international law, to which Belgium accords diplomatic immunity. Its establishment plan is laid down not by the Commission but by the Board, whose decision-making powers are shared by the Member States and the ACP. Nor does the Commission have a CDI page on its web site.

3. Europe and the ACP will decide on arrangements for the transition from CDI to CDE under the Lomé successor agreement.

4. The person to whom the Honourable Member is referring is a former employee of the CDI who has been involved in proceedings against it for several months. Legally speaking he cannot be regarded as temporary director of the CDI. The ACP-EU Council of Ministers is responsible for appointing and dismissing management, and appointed the present director and deputy director in 1995 for the lifetime of the Lomé Convention. Contrary to what the former employee in question is claiming, the Council of Ministers has not dismissed anyone from a management post.

The Commission can confirm that it has consistently provided these explanations in correspondence on this subject with the parties concerned and with outside bodies that have sought such information.

The CDI is financed by the European Development Fund. For the period covered by the second financial protocol to the Lomé Convention its grant totals [fmxeuro]72 700 000.