WRITTEN QUESTION E-2640/99 by Antonios Trakatellis (PPE-DE), Ioannis Marínos (PPE-DE) and Konstantinos Hatzidakis (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Legal arrangements for the awarding of contracts and the construction quality of projects in Greece.
Date: 2000-01-12
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Community support framework, Greece, application of EU law, award of contract, product quality, public works, works contract

C 280 E/92

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

3.10.2000

These are cases governed by Swiss civil law and, as far as traffic accidents are concerned, by the green card
agreement, which also falls under civil law. The Commission has no competences in this respect, and has
no powers to deal with claims following from accidents in third countries, against insurance companies in
these countries.

These questions were not covered by the mandate for the negotiation of the seven sectoral agreements,
and therefore it was not possible to include them in the negotiations. The result of the negotiations has
been proposed by the Commission to the Council (1), and the agreements have been signed on 21 June
1999 in Luxembourg. It is now for the Parliament, the Member States and the Council to ratify the
agreements on the basis of their own evaluation.

The Commission has taken up this issue in a more general context with the Swiss authorities. It will again
raise the issue at the next meeting of the joint committee of the insurance agreement, which will be held
in spring 2000, even if strictly speaking this matter falls beyond the scope of this agreement.

(1) COM(99) 229 final.

(2000/C 280 E/094)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2640/99

by Antonios Trakatellis (PPE-DE), Ioannis Mar(cid:237)nos (PPE-DE)
and Konstantinos Hatzidakis (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(12 January 2000)

Subject: Legal arrangements for the awarding of contracts and the construction quality of projects in

Greece

Significant problems have arisen due to the inadequacy,
lack of transparency and distortions in the
institutional framework for the awarding of contracts and programmes, and because of the slipshod
approach and inadequacy of the Greek inspection and supervisory authorities concerning the proper
monitoring of Community projects under construction. In many instances the Commission has received
complaints concerning the awarding of contracts, resulting in delays in the completion of contracts and
possibly the loss of the corresponding Community appropriations.

Given that the planned third Community support framework for Greece (2000-2006) provides for nine
trillion drachmas for the implementation of various infrastructure projects and development programmes
and given that further construction projects are envisaged with a view to the 2004 Olympic Games:

1. What is the situation in Greece as regards the incorporation into national law and the application of
the Community rules on the legal arrangements for agreements and the allocation of contracts and
programmes?

2. What assessment has been made of their application and what measures will the Commission take in
the event of breach of Community rules or distortion of the operating conditions of the market in
question?

3.

In which Community projects has substandard work been identified by the special supervisory council
(ESPEL) in Greece and in which of these have fines and sanctions been imposed on those responsible?

4. What will be done to ensure transparency, the credibility of the system for awarding and completing
contracts and the elimination of substandard work in Greece, in order to bring about shorter delays, a
higher utilisation rate of Community appropriations and better quality in the construction of projects?

Answer by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(1 March 2000)

The Commission would like to inform the honourable Members that Greece has already transposed a
number of directives on public contracts, namely Council Directives 93/36/EEC of 14 June 1993
coordinating procedures for the award of public supply contracts (1), 93/37/EEC of 14 June 1993
concerning the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts (1), 92/50/EEC of
18 June 1992 relating to the coordination of procedures for the award of public service contracts (2), and

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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89/665/EEC of 21 December 1989 on the coordination of the laws, regulations and administrative
provisions relating to the application of review procedures to the award of public supply and public
works contracts (3). The national provisions for transposition do not seem to indicate any special problems
of compatibility with Community rules. However,
it must be acknowledged that there are still some
significant delays with regard to the transposition of directives on public contracts in the water, energy,
transport and telecommunications sectors: Council Directives 93/38/EEC of 14 June 1993 coordinating the
procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and telecommunications
sectors (1) and 92/13/EEC of 25 February 1992 coordinating the laws, regulations and administrative
provisions relating to the application of Community rules on the procurement procedures of entities
together with Council
operating in the water, energy,
Directive 97/52/EC (5) of 13 October 1997 amending Directives 92/50/EEC, 93/36/EEC and 93/37/EEC
concerning the coordination of procedures for the award of public service contracts, public supply
contracts and public works contracts respectively, in order to take account of the Council(cid:146)s approval of
the international agreement on government procurement under the General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade (GATT). Because of the Greek authorities(cid:146) failure to communicate the national texts transposing
these directives, the Commission has initiated infringement proceedings and decided to bring some of
these matters before the Court of Justice.

transport and telecommunications sectors (4),

The Commission would also like to inform the honourable Members that it ensures that the procedures for
awarding public contracts are properly applied in every Member State. In this regard, the Commission
cooperates above all with the national authorities in the framework of its (cid:145)package meetings(cid:146) in order to
promote awareness of Community rules in this area and to ensure their proper application. At the same
time, it also investigates complaints and can initiate infringement proceedings, as laid down in Article 226
(ex Article 169) of the EC Treaty in the event of national authorities(cid:146) acting in breach of Community rules.

As for improving the overall production system for public works with the aim of making more efficient
use of Community funds,
the Community Support
Framework II provides for the introduction of a joint steering committee that has proposed a number of
measures, some of which were adopted some time ago. The Commission expects this reform to be speeded
up and the necessary measures taken to ensure effective compliance by the authorities undertaking the
works.

the Commission would like to point out

that

Lastly, with regard to the quality of the works that have been jointly funded and the activities of the
special supervisory council (ESPEL), the honourable Members are referred to the answers given to written
questions E-1912/99 by Mr Hadzidakis (6) and E-2017/99 by Mr Papayannakis (7).

(1) OJ L 199, 9.8.1993.
(2) OJ L 209, 24.7.1992.
(3) OJ L 395, 30.12.1989.
(4) OJ L 76, 23.3.1992.
(5) OJ L 328, 28.11.1997.
(6)
(7)

See page 2.
See page 5.

(2000/C 280 E/095)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2648/99

by Roberta Angelilli (UEN) to the Commission

(12 January 2000)

Subject: Pollution by electromagnetic waves

On 11 June 1998 the proposal for a Council recommendation (cid:145)on the limitation of exposure of the general
public to electromagnetic fields 0 Hz to 300GHz(cid:146) (COM(98) 268 final) was published.

In Italy, and especially in Rome, the problem of pollution from electromagnetic waves is at present a
highly contentious issue, because it has been taken up by residents and consumer and environmental
groups.