WRITTEN QUESTION E-0503/00 by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Council. Reassignment of Council staff.
Date: 2000-02-25
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Council of the European Union, European official, administration of the Institutions, job mobility, reassignment

C 330 E/176

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

21.11.2000

no one shall be expelled by means either of an individual or collective measure, from the territory of
the State of which he is a national(cid:146) and that (cid:145)no one shall be deprived of the right to enter the territory
of the State of which he is a national(cid:146), and mindful of the incorporation of those rights under Article 6
of the Common Provisions of the Treaty of Amsterdam, the following undersigned Members of the
European Parliament call upon the Governments of Austria, Greece and Italy to honour their Treaty
commitments by restoring to the former royal houses of their respective countries full civil rights,
including the right to enter freely without let or hindrance their countries of origin, without any
further delay, and request that, where such rights have not been restored by 1 January 2000, the
European Court initiate proceedings against any offending State?

At all events, given that, under the terms of the Treaty, there is no basis for discrimination against
individual families, having regard to the provisions of Articles 39 and 43 of Title III of the Consolidated
Version of the Treaty Establishing the European Community, dealing respectively with the free movement
of persons, services and capital and the right of establishment, given that Prince Victor Emmanuel has not
been permitted to visit his homeland for 53 years or his son ever to set foot on Italian soil, and given that,
although the aforementioned rights are not conditional, Otto von Habsburg was required to sign away
fundamental civil rights before being allowed to settle in Austria, will the Council demonstrate its
commitment to upholding the European Treaties and to European law by urging its Members to refer
Austria, Greece and Italy without delay to the European Court of Justice?

Reply

(2 May 2000)

Under Article 226 of the TEC, it is for the Commission to bring matters before the Court of Justice if it
considers that a Member State has failed to fulfil an obligation under the TEC.

(2000/C 330 E/201)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0503/00

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Council

(25 February 2000)

Subject: Reassignment of Council staff

What procedures does the Council have available, and how often are they implemented,
for the
reassignment of staff from one directorate-general which may need fewer staff to another directorate-
general which may need more staff? How effective have these measures been in terms of the number of
posts transferred each year between directorates-general as a percentage of total numbers in post? Can the
Council give any other information about its reassignment of staff?

Reply

(2 May 2000)

At the start of the 1980s the General Secretariat of the Council introduced a policy on in-house mobility
guided by the principle, recognised in the Staff Regulations, that any official should be able to (cid:145)apply for a
transfer within his institution(cid:146) (Article 7 (1)). This policy is based on the premise that it is not only in the
interest of the person applying for the transfer but also in the interest of the institution to give a person
who wants to be reassigned opportunities for mobility.

However, in response to the question put by the Honourable Member, the General Secretariat has not yet
established any particular internal procedures or rules for the reassignment or (cid:145)redeployment(cid:146) of staff
within its services and directorates-general. In practice, though, over the last few years there have been
several isolated instances where staff have been reassigned so as to bolster existing teams or set up new
ones, depending on the urgency and the importance of certain dossiers. This redeployment has been
carried out in compliance with the mobility procedure.
In particular, these were officials who were
assigned to the Policy Planning and Early Warning Unit (PPEWU) and to the co-decision legislative
procedure unit.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 330 E/177

Moreover, the Secretary-General has also set up a Task Force, which offers temporary back-up from
officials who are provisionally seconded away from their regular duties in order to cope with any non-
routine and exceptional needs of the Institution, such as IGCs or negotiations on successive enlargements.

The General Secretariat of the Council sets great store by there being a degree of flexibility with regard to
redeployment in order to be able to be able to deal with new and urgent matters whenever necessary.

(2000/C 330 E/202)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0506/00

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(28 February 2000)

Subject: Use of intelligence services to gather information about commercial activities

In the Commission(cid:146)s view, would the use of intelligence services by Member States to gather information
about the commercial activities of companies from another Member State constitute a legitimate state aid?
Does it have any evidence that any Member States are directing their intelligence efforts in this way? Is it
concerned about reports that Member States are using intelligence services in this way (e.g. Sunday Times,
23 January 2000)?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(29 March 2000)

So far, the Commission does not have any evidence of the use by Member States of intelligence services to
gather sensitive commercial
information from companies of other Member States. Whatever the legal
qualification of these alleged practices, the Commission will of course never support them. As regards the
legal instruments to combat these alleged practices, the Commission does not consider that the state aid
provisions constitute the most appropriate solution. This kind of practice should normally be dealt with at
national level by penal jurisdictions.

(2000/C 330 E/203)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0507/00

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(28 February 2000)

Subject: Measurement of regional living standards

Further to the answer to Written Question E-2223/99 (1) in which the Commission detailed real per capita
gross domestic product and real per capita gross regional product figures for the Union, is it convinced
that these figures represent the best guide to regional living standards that is available? Is there a means of
taking into account the income earned in one region by a resident of another (cid:129) for example, a commuter
from South East England working in London (cid:129) to produce series based on personal incomes rather than
gross regional product?

(1) OJ C 203 E, 18.7.2000, p. 150.

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(3 April 2000)

Gross domestic product (GDP) is the value of the production generated by resident production units. The
production value is equal to the sum of the incomes (salaries, rents and profits) generated by the
production activity. Regional GDP is therefore an overall indicator of the production activity in a region
and is well suited to measuring a region(cid:146)s level of economic development.