WRITTEN QUESTION E-2597/98

by Konstantinos Hatzidakis (PPE) to the Commission

(1 September 1998)

Subject: Progress with Greek national land register

The project to draw up a national land register in Greece, which is jointly funded by the Commission and the Greek Government, is posing a number of problems. Recently, in fact, the Commission wrote to the Greek Government asking for its comments on allegations that foreign surveyors wishing to take part in the project are being discriminated against in that the invitation to tender requires them to have formal qualifications and experience which is not required of their Greek counterparts.

1. Will the Commission say what the take-up rate of appropriations for the project has been to date, what has been achieved with them so far, and what is the extent of the reduction in the project's budget which has been decided?

2. Is the Commission in general satisfied with the management of the project by Ktimatologio A.E. and with the recruitment of a management consultant, given the continuing confusion over responsibilities?

3. Is the Commission aware that the law which is to govern the operation of the land register and which also provides for the possibility of land registry offices gradually to replace mortgage offices is two years late in being put before the Greek Parliament?

4. Does the Commission believe that the required transparency in the implementation of the project is being upheld given that a recent invitation to tender for land registry studies worth Drs 24 billion raised so many questions that the Minister responsible had to intervene and instruct Ktimatologio A.E. to comply with the principles of transparency, legality and equal treatment?

Answer given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission

(10 November 1998)

1. At present, land registration is being carried out in 341 OTA (municipalities) with a total area of 8 000 sq. km. The cost of this work is GDR 37 283 million (about ECU 111 million). The budget for the µEnvironment¢ operational programme used for land registration was originally ECU 179,5 million but was reduced to ECU 145 million at the end of 1997.

Community commitment appropriations for land registration at present total ECU 64,4 million and payments to Greece amount to ECU 36,7 million. Expenditure on the spot is currently GDR 14 billion (about ECU 42 million), comprising 61 % of the amount for registration in the 66 OTA covered by the first allocation, 20 % of the amount for registration in the 54 OTA covered by the second allocation and 19 % of the amount for registration in the 221 OTA covered by the third allocation.

2. The Commission is in general satisfied with the management of the project, bearing in mind that the company¢s operations are still in their initial stages and it has not yet recruited all its staff.

3. The Commission is aware that the law on the operation of the land registry has just been placed before the Greek Parliament. It constitutes the second and final part of the legal framework required for completion and operation of the registry.

4. The Commission has received no complaints concerning the procedure for the award of the service contracts to which the Honourable Member refers and has no information concerning any irregularities during that procedure.

The Commission is, however, aware of a complaint concerning a procedure for the award of earlier land registry studies, one head of which was the treatment of foreign tenderers as compared with local ones. As a result of the answers given by the Greek authorities to the letter from the Commission mentioned by the Honourable Member, the commitments they gave and the withdrawal of the complaint by the complainant, the Commission is currently considering whether any further action on this complaint is required.