WRITTEN QUESTION E-0312/02

by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(11 February 2002)

Subject: Letter from Mercedes de Sola to a witness in the Stockholm scandal

The head of the Commission's disciplinary procedures unit, Mercedes de Sola, is said to have written to a witness to the events surrounding the financial irregularities at the Commission's information office in Stockholm, calling on him to keep quiet about what he said when questioned by the investigators.

This has incensed a lot of people in Sweden, who consider the letter to be at odds with the Swedish view of freedom of expression, and it represents a culture of government that is quite alien to Sweden.

Will the Commission publish the letter and explain Mercedes de Sola's motives for sending it? Does it take the view that Mercedes de Sola has acted correctly in this case?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(27 March 2002)

The letter referred to by the Honourable Member is a standard formal communication from the Commission to witnesses in disciplinary proceedings and it has the following wording:

I wish to inform you that, in response to requests from several persons to whom the proceedings underway relate, those concerned were apprised of your statements in compliance with the rights of the defence, which the Commission has a duty to safeguard in the course of the inquiry.

I should also stress that the statements notified remain confidential. As a consequence, they cannot be used for any purpose other than under the inquiry in progress or be divulged to anyone but the person concerned by the proceedings, who alone may be privy to them.

The Commission transmitted the relevant parts of this standard letter, together with a full explanation of the purpose and meaning of the letter, to the Swedish Press and to the TV 4 broadcasting station on 1 February 2002. The provision of this material was undertaken in order to respond to an item which was apparently called Silenced Witnesses in the Nyheterna programme broadcast on Saturday 26 January 2002.

The purpose of this standard letter is to inform witnesses that their testimonies are being made available to defendants in an ongoing disciplinary procedure in order to allow those defendants to be informed of the allegations against them and to enable them to prepare their defence. The intention of the letter is to assure these witnesses that neither the Commission, nor the defendants, will be allowed to use the testimonies in any context other than that of the relevant disciplinary procedure being undertaken.

The letter therefore has no bearing whatsoever on the rights of expression of the witnesses concerned. The wording could only be considered to be a call to a witness to keep quiet if it had been seriously misinterpreted. Over many years, the Commission has had no previous complaint or claim that such letters are motivated by an intention to secure the silence of witnesses. However, in order to avoid any future possibility of accidental or deliberate misunderstanding, the wording of this standard letter is being reviewed.

The letter, rather than silencing witnesses, merely serves to keep witnesses informed of the procedure and to assure them that the confidentiality of their statements will be respected by the Commission. A system of notification which properly advises defendants of testimonies that relate to them, and properly advises witnesses that defendants have been informed, is specifically intended to be among the means of safeguarding the civil rights of both witnesses and defendants. Rather than contradicting the essential freedoms of expression and justice it is a procedure which is clearly motivated by the desire to protect those precious liberties of the individual, and it is completely consistent with the best practises and culture of democracy in all parts of the Union.

The Commission therefore maintains the view that the Head of the Disciplinary Office of the Commission acted correctly in following the standard procedure of sending this letter.