WRITTEN QUESTION E-3482/01 by Charles Tannock (PPE-DE) to the Commission. The Commissioner's Special Advisers.
Date: 2002-01-08
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Commission, European Commissioner, administration of the Institutions, administrative expenditure (EU), contract staff

29.8.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 205 E/37

On the other hand, the Council would like to point out that the safety of nuclear power plants is not of
Community but of national competence, as the EAEC Treaty does not contain specific provisions giving
powers to the Community in this respect.

As a consequence, no specific legislation setting common safety standards for nuclear installation safety
has been developed at EU level. The safety of a nuclear installation is the responsibility of the operator
under the control of its authorities in the framework of national legislation.

in the context of the IAEA, which issues safety recommendations, and the Convention on
However,
Nuclear Safety, to which all Member States as well as Euratom are Parties, safety arrangements in the
Member States are already subject to an in-depth peer review.

An amendment of the EAEC Treaty is not a matter for the Council, but for the Intergovernmental
Conference; the EU Treaty stipulates in Article 48 that the government of any Member State or the
Commission may submit to the Council proposals for the amendment of the Treaties on which the Union
is founded; the Council has, for the time being, not received such proposals.

(2002/C 205 E/039)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3482/01

by Charles Tannock (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(8 January 2002)

Subject: The Commissioner’s Special Advisers

According to the Code of Conduct for Commissioners, ‘Commissioners can call on the services of paid or
unpaid special advisers,’ the list of advisors being ‘adopted by the Commission within a strict budget
allocation and on the basis of a transparent procedure.’ They must be acknowledged experts in their field’
and they are not ‘Commission staff.’

Can the Commission provide a list of all special advisors appointed by each Commissioner since the
beginning of Commission President Prodi’s and the new Commission’s term of office in 1999, the length
of time which they served or have served, the areas in which they are acknowledged experts and the
amount which they have been paid?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(19 March 2002)

The Commission is bound by the data protection provisions of Directive 2001/45/EC of the Parliament
and of the Council of 27 June 2001 amending Council Directive 89/655/EEC concerning the minimum
safety and health requirements for the use of work equipment by workers at work (second individual
Directive within the meaning of Article 16(1) of Directive 89/391/EEC) (1) and is consequently not in a
position to release details of individual Special Advisor’s contracts or remuneration to the Honourable
Member.

However, the Commission can confirm that since the beginning of its mandate in 1999, it has called on
the services of 48 Special Advisors. An alphabetical
list of their names is being sent directly to the
Honourable Member and to the European Parliament’s secretariat, together with a list indicating which
Members of the Commission called upon this special advice at some time.

Of the 48 advisors, 17 are retired senior Commission officials with significant experience and recognised
expertise in their fields. These Special Advisors are unpaid.

C 205 E/38

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

29.8.2002

A number of the 31 paid Special Advisors are academics who receive a daily honorarium of € 260, € 315
or € 375 for each day worked in the service of the Commission. The total amount paid to Special Advisors
was € 15 200 for 76 days in 1999, € 93 855 for 289 days in 2000 and € 96 415 for 295 days in 2001.

(1) OJ L 195, 19.7.2001.

(2002/C 205 E/040)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3484/01

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

(8 January 2002)

Subject: Contracting awards

By what process does the Commission make purchases of equipment? Do the Commission staff have the
authority to make such purchases, or does the Commission use an external buyer? What percentage of
money has been recovered when the supplier does not uphold their end of the contract? Does the
Commission feel that this is an acceptable rate of recovery? If not, what steps are being taken to ensure
that taxpayers’ money is being spent efficiently?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(22 February 2002)

The Commission purchases equipment through external supply contracts.

Contracts are awarded in accordance with public tendering procedures set down in the Financial
Regulation. The specific administrative procedures applied depend upon the amount of the order or
contract to be awarded. Calls for tender are published in the Official Journal and followed by a technical
and financial evaluation process. Contracts above € 50 000 are finalised only after formal notification of
the Commission’s Advisory Committee on Procurements and Contracts which is presided over by the
Deputy Director-General of Directorate-General for Budget (DG BUDG) and consists of representatives of
nine other services including Directorate-general for Personnel and Administration (DG ADMIN), the Legal
Service and Financial Control.

Purchases are made by the administration and never by individual initiative.

If a supplier does not comply with his or her contractual obligations, up to 10 % of the total estimated
amount of the contract can be recovered (covered under the Letter of Guarantee) in accordance with the
specific provisions, and depending on the type of contract. The exact percentage is set before the tendering
procedure and adapted in function of the importance of the contract or order. Beyond this guarantee,
specific penalty clauses are included for each type of contract, depending on the use of the product being
purchased.

During the last five years, the central purchasing unit of DG ADMIN has had no case in which a supplier
did not comply with his contractual obligations to supply equipment.

In order to further increase the efficiency of operations, the Commission is at present developing a
framework e-commerce system. Such a system is currently used for office supplies and, in the near future,
should also be used for furniture and technical equipment.

Apart from the issue of supply contracts, the Honourable Member may be interested to know that the
establishment of a central contracts database proposed in Action 74 of the Reform Strategy White Paper
(March 2000) is now being undertaken in DG BUDG. It will bring together all contracting and financing
agreements concluded by the Commission,
including all supply contracts. This will allow a more
systematic and centralised monitoring than has hitherto been possible.