WRITTEN QUESTION E-0647/01 by Carlos Carnero González (PSE) to the Commission. Employment situation of workers at the Sintel company.
Date: 2001-03-06
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Spain, bankruptcy, collective dismissal, competence of the Member States, employment policy, labour law, social movement

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Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

21.8.2001

(2001/C 235 E/273)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0644/01

by Elisa Damiªo (PSE) to the Commission

(23 February 2001)

Subject: Structural indicators (cid:129) report for the Stockholm Council

In view of the diverse nature of the sources used by Eurostat for the purpose of devising the indicators
which are intended as a means of implementing the Lisbon strategy and which have now been published
in the report for the Stockholm Council, would the Commission say whether or not the national and
regional public bodies which are accredited by the Member States for the purpose of supplying statistical
data were consulted by the Commission and, in particular, by Eurostat? Does the Commission accept
responsibility for the reliability and comparability of the indicators and would it indicate in greater detail
both its primary sources and its methods?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(17 April 2001)

In order to be able to publish the Synthesis Report in mid-February, the Commission (Eurostat) had to
compile in a short time period all the data and indicators needed. Eurostat used, to the maximum extent
possible, the official harmonised European Statistical System (ESS) data already provided by the National
Statistical Institutes (NSI) of the Member States.

All the figures were to be delivered by 19 January 2001. Under this tight time schedule, Eurostat also
supplied the national data to those National Statistical Institutes that requested them and set a new
deadline that would permit it to take into account as much as possible their remarks. Regional bodies were
not contacted in this context as hardly any data is compiled at a regional level.

A final transmission of the data and indicators took place on 26 January 2001. The data was then used in
the Synthesis Report, which was presented by the President of the Commission, on 7 February 2001.

The Commission (Eurostat) in co-operation with its network of National Statistical Institutes accepts the
responsibility for the structural indicators and its quality. It has however to be noted that in the first
exercise of compiling structural indicators, in some cases deficiencies in some quality aspects were noted
(e.g. freshness, comparability, completeness).

Therefore Eurostat will establish a business plan to tackle these quality issues in the short and medium
term. A structure is being put in place that enables the participation of NSIs at the different levels, both in
the establishment of indicators and in the process of improving the quality of the data concerned.

An updated overview document of the methodology of structural indicators is already available on the
Eurostat website (1) under structural indicators site. Eurostat however intends to extend this methodology
to a greater level of detail within the work described above.

(1) http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat.

(2001/C 235 E/274)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0647/01

by Carlos Carnero GonzÆlez (PSE) to the Commission

Subject: Employment situation of workers at the Sintel company

(6 March 2001)

For a number of weeks over a thousand Sintel workers have been encamped on Madrid(cid:146)s Paseo de la
Castellana, opposite the headquarters of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Science and
Technology. They are calling on the Spanish Government to take appropriate action in order to safeguard
jobs within their company and ensure that it remains viable in the future, since it directly and indirectly
employs thousands of people in all parts of Spain.

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leaders of

the two main Spanish trade unions (CC.OO and UGT) and numerous
The confederal
representatives of political, social, intellectual and cultural circles have expressed their support for the
Sintel workers and their works council who are engaged in constant industrial action,
including the
abovementioned camp-out in very difficult conditions caused by a number of factors, in particular the
complete lack of cooperation on the part of the Madrid city council leaders.

The safeguarding of jobs, particularly in new-technology companies such as Sintel (which has suffered
many setbacks since it was privatised and sold to the now-deceased businessman Jorge Mas Canosa) is
essential and is in line with the objectives stated by the EU in the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the
Social Agenda which were proclaimed and studied respectively at the recent Nice Summit.

Is the Commission aware of the situation as described above and if it is not does it intend to acquaint itself
with the current state of affairs at Sintel? Does it intend to approach the Spanish Government in order to
find out what its views are and what action it is going to take in order to protect jobs at Sintel?

(2001/C 235 E/275)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0901/01

by Laura GonzÆlez `lvarez (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(19 March 2001)

Subject: Situation of the Spanish company Sintel S.A.(cid:146)s workforce

The Spanish telecommunications company Sintel S.A., a former branch of the Spanish firm Telef(cid:243)nica
S.A., which was at the time a public company, was sold in 1966, to the Mastec group, a company founded
by the President of the Cuban-American National Foundation, whose headquarters are in Miami (USA).
Mastec undercapitalised Sintel S.A., neglected the company(cid:146)s management, and brought it to bankruptcy,
resulting in dismissal proceedings for 1201 of its 1800 workers.

In protest against this situation, over one thousand of Sintel S.A.(cid:146)s workers have been camping in the
Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid for 40 days, while their partners have been staging a sit-in in the
Almudena Cathedral, demanding that they be paid the seven months(cid:146) salary which the company owes
them, and calling on the Spanish Government to intervene to find a positive solution to this situation.

The Lisbon European Council established a European Union growth and employment strategy and the
Commission has always been particularly vigilant with regard to rules safeguarding workers(cid:146) rights when
companies merge or are privatised.

Does the Commission intend to approach the Spanish authorities with a view to achieving a possible
solution to the appalling situation in which the workforce of Sintel S.A. finds itself?

Joint answer
to Written Questions E-647/01 and P-0901/01
given by Ms Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(18 April 2001)

The Commission, as guardian of the Treaties, exercises its powers whenever Community law is concerned.

Industrial restructuring, including the safeguarding of the level of employment, continues to come under
the powers of the national authorities, which, where appropriate, exercise these powers within the
framework of the national legislation of the Member State concerned.