WRITTEN QUESTION P-3154/00 by Chris Davies (ELDR) to the Commission. SAVE/Altener.
Date: 2000-10-02
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU programme, energy policy, management, renewable energy

C 113 E/248

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.4.2001

recent judgment of the Court of Justice in the (cid:145)Corsten(cid:146) preliminary ruling (3), particularly as regards the
provision of services on a temporary basis. In this respect, the Commission is of the opinion that any other
procedure for entry on the trade register does not comply with Community law.

(1) Directive 1999/42/EEC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 June 1999 establishing a mechanism for
the recognition of qualifications in respect of the professional activities covered by the Directives on liberalisation
and transitional measures and supplementing the general systems for the recognition of qualifications (OJ L 201,
31.7.1999).

(2) Council Directive of 7 July 1964 laying down detailed provisions concerning transitional measures in respect of
activities of self-employed persons in manufacturing and processing industries falling within ISIC Major Groups 23-
40 (Industry and small craft industries) (64/427/EEC) (OJ 117 of 23.7.1964).

(3) Case C (cid:129) 58/98, (cid:145)Corsten(cid:146), Judgment of 3.10.2000 (not yet published in the Reports of Cases before the Court).

(2001/C 113 E/271)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3154/00

by Chris Davies (ELDR) to the Commission

(2 October 2000)

Subject: SAVE/Altener

Following reports in the press that
Commission state its intentions as regards the future of these two programmes?

the Commission is set

to abolish SAVE and Altener, will

the

At a meeting of the European Parliament(cid:146)s Committee on Industry, External Trade and Research on
Tuesday, 19 September, Commissioner de Palacio indicated that the SAVE and Altener programmes were
threatened because of insufficient personnel and resources. What action does the Commission intend to
take to rectify this situation?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(23 October 2000)

In the white paper on reforming the Commission (1) of 1 March 2000, the Commission committed itself to
a reform in order to respond to the challenges of globalisation and enlargement.
In line with the
commitments in the white paper, the Commission conducted a detailed evaluation of its activities and its
human resources. On the basis of the results of the evaluation, the Commission published a communica-
tion on (cid:145)Matching the Commission(cid:146)s activities with its human resources(cid:146) (1) which outlines measures for
securing the human resources needed to meet those objectives where staff has been found to be inadequate
in terms of number and specific skills or qualifications.

In that framework a virtual exercise was carried out on the consequences of different staffing scenarios on
the continuation or discontinuation of certain Commission activities. As part of this virtual exercise,
annex 3 of the communication sets out a tentative list of activities to be discontinued or reduced, subject
to agreement by other institutions, or requiring preparation with third parties affected by one of these
staffing scenarios. Among others, the SAVE and Altener programmes (the financial support part) are listed
in the tentative list. However in the text of the communication the Commission underlines clearly in
chapter 3.2.1.
(cid:145)The Commission has drawn up a(cid:146)virtual(cid:145)list of this category of activities that could be
discontinued, which covers very significant measures in areas such as the environment and agriculture. It
wishes to emphasise the value it attaches to those areas and would regret withdrawing from them. It
would only go ahead with such withdrawals if it were compelled to because it failed to obtain the
personnel needed to perform its current tasks(cid:146).

In conclusion, it needs to be said that this tentative list in annex 3 served as an analysis of a theoretical
option. The Commission will continue implementing the two programmes with its present SAVE and
Altener staff.

(1) COM(2000) 200 final.