WRITTEN QUESTION E-1226/02

by Robert Goebbels (PSE) to the Commission

(29 April 2002)

Subject: Location of the Commission's public health departments

It is laid down in the treaty and its protocols that the location of certain Commission departments dealing with public health, health protection and health and safety at work should be Luxembourg.

However, some senior officials at the Commission are asking for all activities relating to the EU's public health policy to be concentrated in Brussels. Director-General R. J. Coleman, for example, has suggested concentrating the whole public health directorate (SANCO G) in Brussels, arguing as follows: Following an internal audit report on the situation of staff in

Luxembourg (high turnover because of uncertainty about location, heavy workload and motivation problems), the ADMIN directorate has agreed to temporary staff being recruited to fill a number of permanent posts and, more recently, to the establishment of a branch office of the public health directorate in Brussels. The Director-General thus takes as the main argument for a transfer to Brussels the uncertainty surrounding the continued existence of the directorate in Luxembourg, whereas this uncertainty, the heavy workload and the recruiting of temporary staff instead of officials all lie within his own control.

Therefore:

1. I would like to know if the Commission intends to comply with the treaty and its protocols by ensuring that the directorate in question is able to work under optimum conditions in Luxembourg.

2. Does the Commission intend to put a stop to the practice of recruiting temporary agents (and sending them to Brussels) to fill the official posts provided for in Luxembourg?

3. Would it not be more logical to set up the public health Directorate-General in Luxembourg with a view to developing in this location the public health policy called for by the Amsterdam Treaty, which also laid down that certain Commission departments were to be located in Luxembourg? Does the Commission consider it necessary to go against the general trend towards decentralisation being followed in all the Member States (using new information and communication technologies, inter alia) and to further encourage the growth of a massive administration in Brussels?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(9 July 2002)

1. For the good functioning of the Commission, and to improve productivity and service co-ordination, it is essential to attribute the tasks of the Commission Departments in a coherent and meaningful way to their components located in the various sites. The Commission has, therefore, been reviewing the situation of each Department for these purposes. Any action resulting from the review will, of course, take full account of the Treaties and Protocols and be subject to appropriate consultations.

2. For reasons beyond the control of the Commission and its Services, it has proved to be difficult to attract suitably qualified staff to vacant permanent posts in the public health directorate in Luxembourg. In the absence of reserve lists of specialised staff, it has consequently been necessary to recruit temporary agents on certain permanent posts. This difficulty is not limited to the Public Health Directorate in Luxembourg and the Commission therefore hopes that the fact that new reserve lists will soon be available following the competitions launched in 2001 will shortly assist in alleviating the general problem. In addition, the Commission's services are examining the question of the timing of the launching of new competitions for public health specialists.

3. The Commission would point out that, in the public interest, it has been necessary over the decades to periodically make structural changes among and within Directorates General in order to take proper account of changing policy needs and realities. Amongst other changes made in October 1999, therefore, the Commission regrouped the public health directorate with food safety, animal and plant health directorates and the consumer protection directorate in the new Health and Consumer Protection Directorate General in order to achieve maximum synergies from the integration of these policy areas. This Directorate General currently has one main work site, which is located in Brussels, and two decentralised sites Luxembourg and Grange in Ireland. The Commission considers that it would not therefore be appropriate, economical, or justified in policy terms to break up this new Directorate General by creating a separate Directorate General for Health. The review of the Commission's services in Luxembourg is not motivated by centralising purposes, it is directly related to trying to secure the most rational and efficient use of resources, taking proper account of overall staffing obligations in the Grand Duchy and of the professional interests of staff.

For a variety of reasons and unlike the other Institutions the Commission Services operate on a multiplicity of sites spread out across many of the Member States of the present European Union. There is no aspiration to encourage the growth of a massive administration in Brussels. Indeed, when the total number of people currently employed by the Commission in all capacities, as permanent or other staff, is near 25 000 (with some 17 000 of them in Brussels) there is no aspiration to create a massive administration of any kind, anywhere.