WRITTEN QUESTION E-1347/00 by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Institutional reform.
Date: 2000-05-04
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Commission, European official, European school, appointment of staff, child care

C 113 E/12

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.4.2001

Further, will it supply as a matter of course material covered under 4. of the above to the European Select
Committees of the House of Common and House of Lords, and to the relevant committees of the
European Parliament?

Reply

(20 November 2000)

The Honourable Member refers in his question to the committees set up in accordance with Article 202 of
the EC Treaty, which are responsible for assisting the Commission in exercising its powers for the
implementation of certain rules.

The Council recalls the Council Decision of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of
implementing powers conferred on the Commission. That decision lays down that
the (cid:145)European
Parliament shall be informed by the Commission of committee proceedings on a regular basis. To that
end, it shall receive agendas for committee meetings, draft measures submitted to the committees for the
implementation of instruments adopted by the procedure provided for by Article 251 of the Treaty, and
the results of voting and summary records of the meetings and lists of the authorities and organisations to
which the persons designated by the Member States to represent them belong. The European Parliament
shall also be kept informed whenever the Commission transmits to the Council measures of proposals for
measures to be taken.(cid:146)

In addition, the Council suggests that the Honourable Member address himself directly to the Commission
regarding its position on communication of documents. The Council must point out that the statements
made at the time of the Council Decision of 28 June 1999 were made available to the public in
accordance with the first subparagraph of Article 7(1) of the Council(cid:146)s Rules of Procedure, and appear on
the Council(cid:146)s internet home page.

However, in the case of committees set up by the Treaties themselves or committees and working parties
set up pursuant to the Council(cid:146)s Rules of Procedure to prepare the work of the Council or submit opinions
to it, the provisions concerning transparency of Council acts apply.

Pursuant to the Council Decision of 6 December 1999 (1), the Council General Secretariat therefore makes
available to the public on the Internet (http://ue.eu.int) a list of the items on provisional agendas for
meetings of the Council and its preparatory bodies which concern cases where the Council acts in its
legislative capacity within the meaning of Article 6 of its Rules of Procedure.

(1) OJ L 9, 13.1.2000.

(2001/C 113 E/011)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1347/00

by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(4 May 2000)

Subject: Institutional reform

I am pleased that the Commission wishes to make itself a (cid:145)model employer(cid:146) that offers a (cid:145)good working
environment(cid:146) for all staff. With these stated wishes in mind, could the Commission please comment on the
thinking behind the recent closure of a Commission crŁche and the scrapping of reception services at one
of the DG buildings? I approve whole-heartedly of cost-cutting but hope very much that the Commission
would agree with me that,
in future, changes made to Commission services should go some way to
realising the projects and aspirations set out in the consultation document on Commission reform rather
than undermining them.

18.4.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 113 E/13

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(3 July 2000)

The Commission has not closed any of its crŁche facilities or reception services.

The Commission did propose the transfer of its after-school child-minding service (garderie) which is
currently at the Wilson/Beaulieu complex to the European schools.

This proposal was made with two purposes in mind:

(i)

to reduce the current overcrowding problem,

(ii)

to increase the number of creche places available by subsequently converting the Wilson garderie into
a new creche in order to try to reduce the present substantial waiting list.

Following consultations with staff representatives and the parents association, however, it has been decided
not to pursue the proposal immediately because the conditions which were expressed by the parents for
facilitating such a transfer could not be met in practice in the short term.

The Commission will continue discussions with the European schools to determine the possibility of
providing the (cid:145)garderies(cid:146) facilities on their premises from 2002, if the requirements set out can be met.

Further options, over a longer time frame, will be examined in the framework of the Reform process and,
in particular,
in the consultative document on social policy that is foreseen in the White Paper on
Reforming the Commission (1) for October 2000.

The Commission recognises the importance of offering good working conditions to its staff and continues
to be convinced that they must include satisfactory crŁche facilities.

The reference to the reception services may relate to the closure of the (cid:145)Welcome Office(cid:146) (bureau d(cid:146)accueil) at
the Beaulieu premises of the Commission. This decision was taken in the context of an initiative launched
on 1 March 2000 consisting of an Infoservice to provide a better service to the staff and the Directorates
general. This Infoservice (cid:129) including a call centre and info centre (former (cid:145)Welcome Office(cid:146)), as well as a
specific site on intranet (cid:129) is mainly intended to provide an improved service to the staff and to use the
services of Directorate general for Administration in a more cost effective and efficient way.

In recent years the number of staff running the Welcome Office in Beaulieu became disproportionate to
the number of officials using the service and, after full examination of all relevant details, the Commission
concluded that the number and nature of information requests from staff did not justify continued full
time staffing of the Beaulieu facility.

A decision was therefore taken to allocate the posts to a new service that is being established. This will
provide a visiting service of social workers to the Beaulieu complex on a regular basis as well as advice
which, in the past, was provided by the Welcome Office.

(1) COM(2000) 200 final.

(2001/C 113 E/012)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1447/00

by Wolfgang Kreissl-D(cid:246)rfler (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

Subject: Multilateral competition rules and development

(10 May 2000)

The Commission(cid:146)s draft text on the EU(cid:146)s negotiating position in the Millennium Round calls for a
multilateral agreement on competition law, referring to aspects such as cooperation between individual
authorities, the establishment of basic principles and minimum standards to govern national competition
law, etc.