WRITTEN QUESTION E-3739/02

by Gabriele Stauner (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(19 December 2002)

Subject: Increases in Commissioners' income without a legal basis

In the answer to my Written Question P-1233/02(1), Mr Kinnock, Commission Vice-President, confirmed on behalf of the Commission that Commissioners have profited for years from increases in income by having a proportion of their salaries not paid into accounts at their place of employment, Brussels, but, rather, transferred to other EU states, taking advantage of so-called weightings for that purpose.

Can Mr Kinnock confirm that, as long ago as the middle of last year, he personally had his attention drawn directly and unequivocally by the Commission departments responsible, which are answerable to him, to the fact that the Council Regulation determining the emoluments of the President and Members of the Commission includes no provisions at all that would allow such income transfers by analogy with provisions under the Staff Regulations?

Can the Commission forward copies of the relevant memoranda from the Commission departments?

Can Mr Kinnock explain why, in spite of the information from his officials, he has not acted and has had payments continued for himself and for other Members of the Commission?

Can Mr Kinnock explain why the Commission's preliminary draft budget for 2003 (Item A-1090) nonetheless again contained incorrect information, creating the erroneous impression that the Council Regulation referred to makes provision for weightings to be applied to Commissioners' salaries?

What conclusion does the Commission draw from the fact that, in the meantime, the Council has rectified this and deleted the Commission's misleading wording?

(1) OJ C 277 E, 14.11.2002, p. 162.

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(17 February 2003)

In my answers to the previous questions of the Honourable Member on this subject (P-1233/02(1), P-1805/02(2) and E-2807/02(3)), I explained the legal position related to the matter in detail. I also demonstrated by reference to the views repeatedly expressed by the Court of Justice that weighted transfers have never been illegal and have not led to a net increase of salary for Members of the Commission, the Court of Auditors and the Court of Justice who have been entitled to use the system. The Commission consequently rejects the allegations contained in the Honourable Member's questions: There have not been payments to Commissioners or to Members of the Court of Auditors and Court of Justice without a legal basis.

It also appeared that the Honourable Member is misinformed about messages which she alleges were received by me to the effect that the Council Regulation determining the emoluments of the President and Members of the Commission includes no provisions at all that would allow such income transfers by analogy with provisions under the Staff Regulations. There have been no such messages or memoranda received by me. If the Honourable Member has any written information showing that such a memorandum was sent, she is advised to make it available to the Director General for Administration and Personnel or other suitable official.

As pointed out in previous replies to the Honourable Member, the decision of the Commission on 5 June 2002 to suspend use of the weighted transfer system was based entirely on the information from the Court of Auditors on 17 May 2002 that its Members had decided that they would suspend their use of the system and would not resume use unless and until the legal basis for the system was clear. Shortly after the 5 June decision of the Commission the Members of the Court of Justice took a similar decision.

In the answer to Question E-2807/02 the Commission drew the Honourable Member's attention to the reaffirmed view of the Court of Justice, conveyed to the Commission by letter on 9th October, that the weighted transfer system as applied to Members of the Institutions always has been, and continues to be, legal and in full conformity with the rules. The Honourable Member will, by now, have seen the relevant letter to the Commission from the Court of Justice and she will also know, therefore, that the Court of Justice resumed use of the weighted transfer system for its members.

On 9 January 2003 the Commission was informed by the Court of Auditors that, following the information from the Court of Justice about the clarity of the legality of the weighted transfer system, its Members had resumed use of that system.

The Commission considers that the decisions taken by the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors mean that no further doubts about the legality of the system can continue to exist.

As the Honourable Member knows from previous replies, Members of the Commission suspended use of the weighted transfer system from 1 July 2002 in common with Members of the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors. As a consequence, no Member of the Commission has used the system since that date. The Honourable Member should therefore withdraw her allegation, made under the protection of Parliamentary privilege, that Members of the Commission have continued to use the system, despite their decision on 7 June. That allegation is completely without foundation.

Finally, the Commission confirms that the legal situation relating to the payments system is not affected in any way by the fact that, in its first reading of the draft budget 2003, the Council proposed an addition to the budgetary comment of line A-1090 from our draft commentary to Council amended draft commentary since, in the event, that addition was not adopted by the budgetary authority in the final budget, after conciliation between Council and Parliament.

The Commission consequently rejects the inferences in the Honourable Member's question that the Commission was using misleading wording in order to give an erroneous impression. There is no justification whatsoever for such inferences and they should be withdrawn.

(1) OJ C 277 E, 14.11.2002, p. 162.

(2) OJ C 309 E, 12.12.2002, p. 164.

(3) OJ C 137 E, 12.6.2003, p. 121.