WRITTEN QUESTION E-3556/00 by Antonio Di Pietro (ELDR) to the Commission. Application of Community directives to the ECB.
Date: 2000-11-15
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Central Bank, application of EU law, 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?

19.6.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 174 E/79

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(26 January 2001)

The Commission is aware of the European central bank (ECB) press release dated 5 October 2000 entitled
(cid:145)ECB labour relationships and the social dialogue with regard to the ESCB(cid:146) and the related more detailed
document as of the same title and date.

According to Article 249 (ex Article 189) of the EC Treaty Community directives are addressed to Member
States. As far as the employees of the ECB are concerned, the Governing Council of the ECB determines
the conditions of employment by virtue of Article 36.1 of the Statute of the European system of central
banks (ESCB).

(2001/C 174 E/081)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3563/00

by Charles Tannock (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(17 November 2000)

Subject: Refusal of a derogation allowing the Turks and Caicos Islands to export small quantities of rice

An investment of £ 4 million towards the cost of a rice mill was made in the British Overseas Territory of
Turcs and Caicos Islands under an EU scheme to help Overseas Territories by allowing them to export
high quality milled rice to Europe, but after some pressure from some Member States the limited export
quota for the Turcs and Caicos Islands was reduced to almost nothing, even though the long-grain rice
grown there does not compete with the short-grain rice grown in Southern Europe. Although a derogation
is possible, this has been refused, even though the tiny production levels proposed would fall within the
limits of the derogation.

Could the Commission explain the reasons behind the decision not to allow the derogation, which has put
sixty people out of work and made it more difficult for these small islands to achieve economic self-
sufficiency? Can it indicate whether the refusal to allow a derogation is legal under the terms of the
European Treaties, and, if so, what avenues of appeal are open either to the employer whose investment in
the mill has been made worthless or to the governor of the Turcs and Caicos Islands?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(19 January 2001)

The Commission would like first of all to point out that, when the enterpreneurs concerned consulted it
well in advance of making their investment, they were told about the risks entailed given the current
situation in the Community rice sector. A Commission report to the Council had already gone into these
issues back in 1993 (1).

On 21 June 2000, the United Kingdom Government requested a derogation from the rules of origin for
rice as laid down in Council Decision 91/482/EEC of 25 July 1991 on the association of the overseas
countries and territories (2).

The purpose of this derogation was to enable the Turks and Caicos Islands to import rice from third
countries (Uruguay, China, Thailand and Vietnam) for processing and subsequent export as a finished
product (milled rice) to the Community, free of customs duty.

Having examined the application in detail and consulted the other Member States via the relevant
committee, on 11 September 2000 the Commission refused to grant the derogation, inter alia because
the Turks and Caicos Islands already have the option of supplying their industry with rice originating in
the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP) for export to the Community duty-free under the existing
mixed origin arrangements with those countries.