WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3461/97 by Amedeo AMADEO to the Commission. JRC in Ispra
Date: 1997-10-31
Institutions: AMADEO, European Parliament
Subjects: EU control, European Commission, Italy, Joint Research Centre, administrative contract, disciplinary proceedings, fraud, power to appoint, scientific research, servant (EU)

C 158/120

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

25. 5. 98

(98/C 158/155)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3459/97

by Amedeo Amadeo (NI) to the Commission

(31 October 1997)

Subject: JRC in Ispra

Giorgio DEVISONI, born on 14 December 1964 in Luino (Varese), has lodged a complaint after having been
rejected  by  the  selection  board  in  research  competition  COM/R/D/3.  In  the  complaint  he  maintains  that  it  is
common knowledge that the selection board did not apply the same criteria to all the candidates, given that the
board, comprising representatives of the Administration and staff representatives, was unable to reach agreement
on the criteria for the selection of the first 14 candidates to be taken from the reserve list containing 33 names. In
order  to  overcome  this  problem,  the  selection  board  decided  to  adopt  the  quite  unprecedented  procedure  of
allowing  the  representatives  of  the  Administration  to  choose  7  (seven)  of  the  candidates,  while  the  staff
representatives chose the other 7 (seven). As a result, none of the leading candidates gained the approval of the
board as a whole, since none of the candidates chosen by either side (Administration or staff) were considered
eligible by the other side.

If the above claims are true, the competition clearly cannot be said to have been fair.

Would the Commission look into the matter with a view to clearing up any doubts or concerns in the minds of the
JRC staff and unions?

Answer given by Mrs Cresson on behalf of the Commission

(11 December 1997)

In the case of the competition referred to, over 1 640 applications were examined by an eight-member selection
board  comprising  four  representatives  of  the  adminstration  and  four  staff  representatives.  After  an  initial
examination of the applications, the selection board interviewed a smaller number of candidates who were best
qualified to meet the requirements of the positions to be filled.

There are thirty three names on the final reserve list, which was drawn up unanimously by the members of the
selection board and approved by the appointing authority. Appointment of successful candidates then depends on
the availability of budgetary resources.

(98/C 158/156)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3461/97

by Amedeo Amadeo (NI) to the Commission

(31 October 1997)

Subject: JRC in Ispra

There  have  been  reports  that  inquiries  are  currently  under  way  at  the  Ispra  JRC  into  a  number  of  contracts
concluded with outside firms on the grounds that, after advances › some of which were extremely large › had
been paid, it emerged that those firms were incapable of carrying out the work or, worse still, did not even exist.

Can the Commission state whether the above is true and, if it is, say what action it intends to take against the
officials who adopted such a careless approach to the award of contracts?

Answer given by Mrs Cresson on behalf of the Commission

(4 December 1997)

An  official  inquiry  is  currently  under  way  at  the  Ispra  Joint  Research  Centre  to  assess  if  rules  relating  to
procedures on the award of contracts with external consultants have been complied with.

In the light of this, the Appointing Authority (AIPN) has decided at this stage to open disciplinary proceedings
and to give the officials concerned a hearing, in accordance with Article 87 of the Staff Regulations.

The AIPN will take the necessary measures at the end of the proceedings.