WRITTEN QUESTION E-1461/00 by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Conflicts of interest within the Commission.
Date: 2000-05-10
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Commission, duties of civil servants

13.2.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 46 E/195

Does the Commission intend shortly to adopt this text and submit it to the Community legislative
authorities?

Will the Commission be following the advice of the scientific committees concerning maximum levels of
nutrients which may be taken daily?

Is the Commission back-pedalling under pressure from pharmaceutical companies opposed to this
directive?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(22 June 2000)

The Commission has adopted on 8 May 2000 the proposal for a Parliament and Council directive on food
supplements (1) and will transmit it to the Parliament and the Council imminently.

The proposal foresees the adoption of maximum levels of nutrients on the basis of a number of criteria.
One of those is upper safe levels of vitamins and minerals established by scientific risk assessment based
on generally acceptable scientific data. The Commission has asked the scientific committee for food (SCF)
for advice on such levels for vitamins and minerals. As always the Commission will give its full attention
to the advice of the SCF.

(1) COM(2000) 222 final.

(2001/C 46 E/232)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1461/00

by Jonas Sj(cid:246)stedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

Subject: Conflicts of interest within the Commission

(10 May 2000)

After the Commission(cid:146)s refusal to approve the merger between Volvo and Scania, people in Sweden have
been asking whether it is proper that the Commissioner concerned had sat on the board of a competitor.
Does the Commission consider that the Commissioner responsible could be suspected of bias in such
circumstances? Has the Commission a set of principles to govern potential conflicts of interest within its
ranks?

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(5 June 2000)

The Code of Conduct for Commissioners lays down rules with which they must comply during their term
of office and for one year after they have ceased to hold office. It requires all Commissioners to make a
declaration relating to former and current outside activities in which they have engaged, financial interests
and assets and, if appropriate, the activities of their spouses.

As regards former activities, the declaration must relate to activities engaged in over the last ten years.

The Commissioner with special responsibility for competition stated in his declaration of former activities
that he had sat on the board of various firms, including Fiat from 1988 to 1993.

The declarations were scrutinised under the authority of the President and with due regard for Members(cid:146)
areas of responsibility and were made public.

C 46 E/196

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

13.2.2001

As the Commissioner with special responsibility for competition ended his involvement with the boards of
the firms in question between 1983 and 1994 and his membership of the Fiat board in 1993, i.e. six years
before he took up that office (September 1999), he cannot in any way be regarded as having faced a
conflict of interest, either when he took up office or when he had to deal with the Volvo-Scania merger.

(2001/C 46 E/233)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1475/00

by Gilles Savary (PSE) to the Commission

(11 May 2000)

Subject:

(cid:145)Nationalisation(cid:146) of Leonardo programme

It appears that the hiving-off to national agencies of an important share of the Leonardo programme has
resulted in changes to the rules for allocating student-mobility aid.

That aid has in effect been (cid:145)nationalised(cid:146) and is no longer available to provide placements for foreign
students, but only to assist national students going abroad.

This means that students from countries and universities insufficiently familiar with European procedures,
in particular those from countries applying for EU accession, are being denied the opportunity to apply for
placements in European Union countries.

If this state of affairs, already widespread in France in particular, is confirmed also in other countries, what
action will the European Commission take to rectify it, in accordance with the spirit of the Leonardo
programme and its founding objectives?

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(26 June 2000)

Council Decision 1999/382/EC of 26 April 1999 establishing the second phase of the Community
vocational training action programme (cid:145)Leonardo da Vinci(cid:146) (1), provides for an annual global grant to be
allocated to each Member State to support the (cid:145)mobility(cid:146) measure. This grant is allocated to each Member
State on the basis of an operational plan which must set out clearly the arrangements for managing the
financial support, the steps to be taken to assist the organisers and appropriate measures to be taken in the
interests of sound preparation, organisation and follow-up of placements and exchanges. The Commission
must approve this plan in advance. It is then up to the national agencies to launch calls for proposals and
to select projects on the basis of specifications drawn up at Community level.

The Commission, having consulted the members of the programme committee, has specified in the various
implementation documents for the (cid:145)mobility(cid:146) measure (application forms and guides for promoters) that
only organisations of origin can promote a mobility project. However, these documents also state that the
share of the budget earmarked for project management and follow-up costs can be distributed amongst the
various project partners,
including the host organisations. The aim of this provision was to provide
appropriate support for initiatives to promote the hosting of beneficiaries of Leonardo da Vinci mobility
measures.

The Commission is monitoring compliance with the objectives of the programme and the principles of
transnationality and life-long learning. If the risk mentioned in the Honourable Member(cid:146)s question were to
arise in practice, the Commission would remind the Leonardo da Vinci monitoring committee of its
responsibility for implementing the programme.

Finally, on 24 May the Commission adopted mobility programmes for 2000 from Member States and
countries in the European Economic Area (Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland). The programmes from the
applicant countries will be formally approved once the decisions of the Association Councils on these
countries(cid:146) participation in Community programmes in the areas of education, training and youth have
come into force.

(1) OJ L 146, 11.6.1999.