WRITTEN QUESTION E-3163/01 by Theresa Villiers (PPE-DE) to the Council. Money laundering convictions.
Date: 2001-11-23
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: money laundering, penalty, statistics

20.6.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 147 E/119

(2002/C 147 E/123)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3162/01

by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(19 November 2001)

Subject: Absenteeism in Commission staff

Although no names or identifying marks are requested in order to ensure that individual staff’s privacy is
protected, would the Commission provide the rates of absenteeism and sickness in the European
Commission’s staff? What have the rates been in previous Commissions and what are the current rates?
Does the Commission believe that these rates are acceptable? Could the Commission provide the rates DG
by DG?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(9 January 2002)

It is very difficult to obtain comparative figures on absence levels in national administrations. The limited
data available to the Statistical Office does not, however,
indicate that the sickness leave level at the
Commission is any higher than the average in those administrations.

Changes in the informatics and management systems for recording absences, particularly the decen-
tralisation to the level of individual Directorates General decided upon in 1997 and implemented in 1999,
make it very difficult to compare the rates of absenteeism in previous periods with the figures available for
2000. However, to the extent that the figures are available and comparable they do not suggest any
deterioration over time and there are no indications that the level of sickness leave at the Commission is
unusually high.

A Commission report sent to Parliament in June 2001 states that, with an absenteeism level of 3,6 % in
2000, the Commission is below the average for all the European Institutions (5,8 % for the European
Parliament, 5,5 % for the Council, 5,9 % for the Economic and Social Committee, 3,9 % for the Court of
Justice, 3,4 % for the Court of Auditors, and 3,3 % for the Committee of the Regions).

That full report is, naturally, available to the Honourable Member in Parliament. Relevant extracts from it
; with tables showing absences by duration, by staff category, and by Directorate General ; are being
sent directly to the Honourable Member and to the Parliament’s Secretariat.

(2002/C 147 E/124)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3163/01

by Theresa Villiers (PPE-DE) to the Council

(23 November 2001)

Subject: Money laundering convictions

Does the Commission have any statistics on the number of convictions for money laundering in EU

1.
Member States?

If so, can the Commission please state how many convictions there have been in total across the EU

2.
and in each individual Member State, during the last ten years?

C 147 E/120

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

20.6.2002

Reply

(1 March 2002)

The Council does not have in its possession any information concerning the question asked by the
Honourable Member.

(2002/C 147 E/125)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3170/01

by Sebastiano Musumeci (UEN) to the Commission

(19 November 2001)

Subject: Regulating services of public interest in the European Union

In view of the technological developments taking place and the new needs arising from the changes in
lifestyles, it is important to identify clearly what is meant by services of public interest in the 21st century.

Regulatory practices in respect of services of public interest vary considerably from one Member State to
another.

A Community of over 250 million people, with a single currency and single market, cannot continue to
apply such divergent rules in this sector. In view of the above:

1. Would the Commission not agree that there is an urgent need to harmonise regulations on services
of public interest (electricity, telephony, water resources, gas) before the candidate countries join the
European Union?

2.
Does the Commission not consider that, for the purposes of guaranteeing the provision of an
effective and safe service to consumers, steps should be taken with a view to separating infrastructure and
network owners and providers of end-user services?

3.

Has the Commission put forward legislative proposals to this end, or does it intend to do so?

4. With a view to establishing new infrastructures and networks (water and gas pipelines, telephone
cables, electricity lines), to bringing existing systems into line with technological developments and to
improving safety standards, will the Commission take action to tackle a number of specific problems, such
as the state of water pipelines in the south of Italy, which fall well short of the EU average?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(10 January 2002)

In its Communication on Services of General Interest in Europe of 20 September 2000 (1), the
1.
Commission explains that Community law leaves it primarily to the Member States to define what they
regard as services of general economic interest on the basis of the specific features of the activities in
question. Member States’ freedom to define or not to define a certain economic activity as a service of
general economic interest leads to different results according to the policy choices of each Member State.
Article 86(2) of the EC Treaty basically acknowledges and protects such differences and the resulting scope
for Member States’ to shape their policies in the area of services of general economic interest. Nevertheless,
the EC Treaty rules, and in particular the competition rules and the internal market rules, are in principle
applicable to these services. On the basis of the proportionality principle enshrined in Article 86(2), the
application of these rules can only be limited to the extent necessary to ensure the proper functioning of
the service of general economic interest at issue.

The Commission follows the proportionality principle also where it adopts or proposes secondary
legislation for the liberalisation of markets in which services of general economic interest can be