WRITTEN QUESTION E-3554/00 by Antonio Di Pietro (ELDR) to the Council. Terms and conditions of employment of members of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank.
Date: 2000-11-15
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Central Bank, professional secret, working conditions

C 174 E/78

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

19.6.2001

(2001/C 174 E/079)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3554/00

by Antonio Di Pietro (ELDR) to the Council

(15 November 2000)

Subject: Terms and conditions of employment of members of the Executive Board of the European Central

Bank

According to Article 11(3) of the Protocol on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks, the
terms and conditions of employment of the members of the Executive Board must be fixed by the
Governing Council on a proposal
from a Committee comprising three members appointed by the
Governing Council and three members appointed by the Council.

Does the Council have a detailed knowledge of the terms and conditions of employment of the

1.
members of the Executive Board (benefits, salary, social insurance cover, etc.)?

2.
Does the Council know 1) whether there are any rules which members of the Board should observe
to ensure that confidential information is not used to their personal advantage and 2) whether appropriate
enforcement mechanisms exist?

Does the Council consider the salaries and benefits paid to members of the Executive Board to be

3.
excessive or commensurate with their duties?

Given that the ECB is financed from public funds, is the Council willing to make this information

4.
available to the European Parliament and the public at large?

Reply

(12 March 2001)

As the Honourable Member states in his question, in accordance with Article 11(3) of the Protocol on the
Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank, it is the Governing
Council which is responsible for fixing the terms and conditions of employment of the members of the
Executive Board. The Council is not involved. In accordance with the same provision referred to above, the
Council(cid:146)s only role is to appoint three members to the Committee on the basis of whose proposal the
Governing Council fixes the above terms and conditions of employment. This being so, the Council
believes that it is not the institution best placed to reply in detail to the questions put.

(2001/C 174 E/080)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3556/00

by Antonio Di Pietro (ELDR) to the Commission

(15 November 2000)

Subject: Application of Community directives to the ECB

Article 36.1 of the relevant Protocol stipulates that the ECB Governing Council shall
lay down the
conditions of employment of its staff. However, this article is being interpreted very broadly by the ECB(cid:146)s
decision-making bodies, in particular as a means of refusing to negotiate these conditions with the staff(cid:146)s
trade union representatives and to avoid having to apply Community directives.

Is the Commission aware of this broad interpretation expressed in ECB internal documents and in a

1.
press release issued on 5 October 2000?

Does the Commission consider that Community directives, especially the directive on working hours,

2.
should apply to ECB staff, as European citizens?

If the Commission is prepared to state that such directives apply to the ECB, what measures does it

3.
intend to take to enforce them?

4. Will the Commission state what legislation applies to the terms of employment of ECB staff in order
to ensure that the fundamental rights of workers and general principles of European law are not violated?