WRITTEN QUESTION P-1644/02

by Gabriele Stauner (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(4 June 2002)

Subject: False calculation of Member State contributions

Various press reports in Germany and Luxembourg have stated that the EU Statistical Office Eurostat has been working with false figures.

Is it true that, since 1998, false statistical information has meant that France has been placed too low on the scale of wealth and, consequently, its contribution to the EU has not corresponded to its actual position?

Does this not imply that the contributions paid by all the Member States must be called into question and calculated afresh, going back to 1998?

The owner of the firm Eurogramme, which is responsible for drawing up the Eurostat figures, has been quoted in the media as stating that five of his employees were working intra muros in the Commission and assisting the Commission in the management of research activities. Does the Commission not see a conflict of interests here? Has the Commission drawn the head of Eurostat's attention to the considerable danger of a conflict of interests? Is the Prodi Commission allowing the so-called submarines which also contributed to the collapse of the Santer Commission to continue to operate?

Is it true that a member of staff who drew attention to the irregularities in Eurostat at an early stage has been removed from her post?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(5 July 2002)

Certain data relating to French construction prices are currently under scrutiny by the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat) and the French statistical office, NSEE. It is not yet clear if the prices used by Eurostat in its final 1998 purchasing power parity (PPP) calculations are erroneous or not. If any corrections are needed, they will be made. However, these corrections, if any, would affect only the PPP data, not the data in national currency or euro.

Regarding the ranking of countries in terms of per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in purchasing power standards (PPS), Eurostat draws attention in its publications to the fact that the figures are not sufficiently precise to establish a strict ranking of countries, particularly when their levels of GDP per head in PPS are very close to each other.

It is highly unlikely that any revision of the French construction prices would change France's position in a group of countries including Germany and the United Kingdom, all close to the Community average.

There can be no impact on the contributions of France or other Member States to the Community because these contributions are calculated entirely in euro at current prices.

The five Eurogramme employees working in the premises of the Commission are not submarines, nor is there any conflcit of interests. The fact is that the contractual framework for these activities is the Fifth Community Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development. This programme allows the Commission to make use of service providers, who are authorised to work on Commission premises in order to play a part in the implementation of research activities. The Eurogramme service provider, selected after a call for tenders, gave an undertaking that it would not be involved in any research work in connection with the specific programme in which its employees were partly involved. The commitment has been complied with. In addition, the employees in question signed a declaration of non-conflict of interests. The Commission services are satisfied with this contract.

Eurogramme has never been involved in any PPP-related work for Eurostat.

The situation of the official within her unit was discussed in depth by her and Eurostat's Administration and Staff Unit, as well as by her Head of Unit and the Administration and Staff Unit. Following these discussions, it was jointly agreed that in her interest and in the interest of the service the official should be transferred with her post to another Eurostat unit.