WRITTEN QUESTION E-1754/99 by Klaus-Heiner Lehne (PPE-DE) to the Council. Costs of employing Mr Hombach and his staff.
Date: 1999-10-01
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Community budget, Western Balkans, stability pact, wage cost

C 219 E/22

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

1.8.2000

Does the Understanding imply that the Commission accepts US extraterritorial legislation if European

5.
firms are not affected thereby?

6. What is the new Prodi Commission(cid:146)s position on the problematic issue of extraterritorial legislation?

Answer given by Mr Lamy on behalf of the Commission

(21 October 1999)

The former member of the Commission in charge of trade replied by letter of 4 June 1999 to Mr Gilman(cid:146)s
letter. A copy of this letter has been sent, at their request, to the members of the committee on industry,
external trade, research and energy.

Since the understanding on, inter alia, the Helms-Burton Act, reached with the United States on 18 May
1998 at the Community and United States Summit in London, the Commission has consistently pressed
the American Administration on the question of the waiver to Title IV of the Helms-Burton Act which is
the prime condition for the entry into force of
the understanding. The Commission remains very
concerned that no tangible progress has so far been made on this, without which the Community cannot
(cid:129) of course (cid:129) deliver its side of the bargain.

The understanding is of a political nature and does not in any way give validity to the illegal provisions of
the Helms-Burton Act. On 25 May 1998, the General Affairs Council took note of the decisions and
statements made at the 18 May Community and United States summit. As far as the Commission knows,
no national parliament has expressed any opinion on the understandings.

Accession to the LomØ Convention is a matter of negotiation between the applicant country and the other
members of the LomØ Convention. The Community supports Cuba(cid:146)s request to join the LomØ Convention
negotiations as an observer, without prejudice to any future decision on Cuban membership.

As is made clear in the Commission(cid:146)s reply to Mr Gilman, the Commission is opposed both in law and in
principle to the imposition of secondary boycotts and legislation with extraterritorial effect and retro-
activity. The understandings do not alter the Commission(cid:146)s conviction that the Helms-Burton Act is
contrary to international law and World trade organisation rules. This remains the Commission(cid:146)s position.

(2000/C 219 E/029)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1754/99

by Klaus-Heiner Lehne (PPE-DE) to the Council

(1 October 1999)

Subject: Costs of employing Mr Hombach and his staff

On 10 June 1999 EU foreign ministers appointed Mr Bodo Hombach Coordinator of the Stability Pact for
South-Eastern Europe.

Can the Commission answer the following questions:

1. Which persons are on Mr Hombach(cid:146)s staff, and by which Member States have they been sent?

2. What are the staffing costs for employing Mr Hombach and his staff?

3. What proportion of the costs of employing Mr Hombach and his team comes from the EU budget?

4. What contribution does each Member State have to make towards the staffing costs?

5. Has the Federal Republic of Germany promised the other Member States that it will provide the

majority of staff and bear the main share of staffing costs?

6. Have individual Member States indicated that they will not contribute to staffing costs?

7. How are staffing costs to be financed in the next few years?

1.8.2000

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 219 E/23

Reply

(31 January 2000)

1.

The current staff of the Office of the Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact is composed of:

(cid:129) 3 Deputy Special Coordinators (nationals respectively of the US, Netherlands and Finland) responsible

for the three Working Tables;

(cid:129) An Envoy responsible for relations with countries in SEE (national of the FYROM);

(cid:129) 1 Head of Cabinet (German national);

(cid:129) 1 Advisor (Italian national);

(cid:129) 1 Deputy head of Cabinet and Spokesman (UK national);

(cid:129) 3 (cid:145)A(cid:146) grade officials for WT I (respectively Danish, Hungarian and Swiss nationals);

(cid:129) 2 (cid:145)A(cid:146) grade officials for WT II (respectively French and Austrian nationals);

(cid:129) 2 (cid:145)A(cid:146) grade officials for WT III (respectively German and Swedish nationals);

2.
All (cid:145)A(cid:146) grade officials are seconded by their Governments to the Stability Pact office. Their salaries
and personal living costs in Brussels are covered by the respective Governments. The Office has hired an
accountant and four secretaries. Regarding both the A and B grades, the Office is not yet at full strength.

The European Union has approved Joint Action 1999/523/CFSP of

3.
the 29 July allocating
EUR 850 000 for the period ending on 31 December 1999. The amount covers Mr Hombach(cid:146)s salary,
the running costs of the Office and the travelling costs of members of the staff who are EU nationals.

The Federal Republic of Germany has made no such promise; it does not bear the majority of the

4.
staffing costs and does not provide the majority of staff members.

5.

No individual EU Member State has indicated that it will not contribute to staffing costs.

6.
The way staffing costs are to be financed in the next few years is to be decided by the Stability Pact
participants. The Council would point out in this connection the leading role played by the Union in the
Stability Pact, a role which it has requested during the whole process and which it is acknowledged to have
by all participants in the Pact itself.

(2000/C 219 E/030)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1768/99

by Jan Andersson (PSE) to the Commission

(11 October 1999)

Subject: Situation of disabled staff at the Commission

I have recently received a copy of an open letter addressed to the President of the European Parliament.
This letter, which has most probably already come to the Commission(cid:146)s knowledge (failing which I can
send a copy) describes the working conditions of a blind freelance translator at the Commission. The
description of these working conditions makes it clear that the Commission(cid:146)s efforts to improve the work
situation of the disabled leave much to be desired. I should be grateful to learn the exact circumstances of
this case.

Will the Commission therefore comment on the circumstances as described in the open letter from the
freelance translator, and describe the contents of the plans it surely has as a minimum for improving the
working conditions and promoting the recruitment of people with disabilities?