WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1654/98 by Karl HABSBURG-LOTHRINGEN to the Commission. Open competitions COM/A/8/98, COM/A/9/98, COM/A/10/98, COM/ A/11/98 and COM/A/12/98
Date: 1998-05-18
Institutions: European Parliament, HABSBURG-LOTHRINGEN
Subjects: admission to examinations, competition (EU), equal treatment, professional experience, recruitment, university, vocational training

11.12.98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 386/153

At present, Solvay mines some 1 800 tonnes of salt a year in an area of 378 hectares. According to the contract,
however, it is entitled to mine up to 2 000 000 tonnes a year in all three AMS concessions, covering an area of
approximately 1 726 hectares. If they were exploited on that scale, the reserves would be exhausted within a few
decades.

Does the Commission not believe that it should investigate the case described above and, if need be, check
whether the contract infringes Community legislation?

Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission

(17 June 1998)

In accordance with the mission of ensuring the observance of Community law, as set out in Article 155 of the EC
Treaty, the Commission is entitled to undertake interventions only when a provision of Community law is
concerned.

Given the insufficient information provided by the Honourable Member, the Commission is not in a position to
identify which Community law provisions would be at stake in this case.

In the light of the above, the Commission invites the Honourable Member to indicate the provisions of
Community law which he considers to be relevant to this specific case and to describe more precisely the factual
circumstances which appear to have a relevance under Community law.

(98/C 386/209)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1654/98

by Karl Habsburg-Lothringen (PPE) to the Commission

(18 May 1998)

Subject: Open competitions COM/A/8/98, COM/A/9/98, COM/A/10/98, COM/A/11/98 and COM/A/12/98

The Commission is currently holding open competitions, for the first time since 1993, for categories A8 (for
graduates who completed their studies after 4 May 1995 and have no professional experience) and A7/A6 (for
graduates with three years(cid:146) professional experience).

This selection procedure thus targets graduates from the Member States with little or no professional experience.

Is the Commission aware that in setting these criteria it is excluding many potential applicants from Austria and
other Member States? This particularly affects graduates who completed their studies immediately before 4 May
1995 but, who owing to the high rate of unemployment among young graduates in Europe, because of completing
their military service, or for other reasons, have not been able to obtain the professional experience necessary to
participate in the A7/6 selection procedure?

How does the Commission justify these criteria, and in particular its restriction of participation in the A8
competition by requiring studies to have been completed after a certain date?

Does the Commission propose to drop this requirement for current and future selection procedures and to
postpone the deadline for applications for the COM/A/8/98 and COM/A/11/98 competitions accordingly?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(4 June 1998)

The Commission would refer the Honourable Member to its answer to written question P-1350/98 by
Mr Caccavale (1).

(1)

See page 117.