WRITTEN QUESTION P-0348/03 by Roberta Angelilli (UEN) to the Commission. Formation of a joint stock holding company for the City of Rome: possible conflict between public and corporate interests.
Date: 2003-02-06
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Latium, award of contract, holding company, infringement procedure (EU), municipality, public service, services of general interest, shareholding, undisclosed partnership

C 161 E/212

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

10.7.2003

(2003/C 161 E/221)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0346/03

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(5 February 2003)

Subject: Non-rational set-aside

1. What objectives is the Commission seeking to ensure by proposing that set-aside should be non-
rotational?

2.
How does the Commission propose that such land can be used if at all, and is it aware of the
considerable problems that unused land may cause by inviting informal and unauthorised travellers’
encampments?

3.

How would it avoid this consequence?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(25 February 2003)

Set-aside has

1.
received much attention by environmentalists as an instrument with a great
environmental potential. The latter will, however, emerge only if habitats on set-aside land have sufficient
time to develop and if some land management
in line with site-specific requirements is applied.
Environmentalists have asked for some time for a fixed proportion of non-rotational set-aside.

The environmental requirements can be matched without compromising the supply management effect of
set aside. This can be achieved by making set-aside non-rotational, applying land management
corresponding to ecological needs, and restricting the set-aside requirement to arable land in order not to
undermine the environmental value of managed pastures.

Since under certain circumstances rotational set-aside could deliver better environmental outcomes,
rotational set-aside will be an option, applicable where justified on environmental grounds.

2.
and 3. In the Commission’s proposal establishing common rules for direct support schemes under
the Common Agricultural Policy (1), Article 57 states that the land set aside shall be maintained in good
agricultural condition but shall not be used for agricultural purposes and shall not produce any crop for
commercial purposes.

With regard to the rules regarding public access to such set-aside land, since no specific Community
legislation has been laid down in this domain, it is considered by the Commission to be a matter of
national competence.

(1) COM(2003) 23 final.

(2003/C 161 E/222)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0348/03

by Roberta Angelilli (UEN) to the Commission

(6 February 2003)

Subject: Formation of a joint stock holding company for the City of Rome: possible conflict between public

and corporate interests

The recent proposal for a Rome City Council decision concerning the possibility of forming a holding
company that would take over all the holdings in the 83 companies which that council currently controls
gives rise to many doubts regarding the activities carried on by such companies and their legitimacy in
respect of Community laws on public service contracts.

10.7.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 161 E/213

The companies in question provide, inter alia, services of general interest such as urban and extra-urban
transport, refuse collection and disposal and water supply. The aim of the holding company being formed
should be to strategically coordinate and rationalise the activities of the companies it controls.

In reality, an examination of the company’s statutes shows that its object is not only defined in general and
very vague and all-embracing terms, but also involves ‘carrying out services for the City of Rome’ which,
owing to the aforesaid general nature of the company’s object, could include public services. Such services
would therefore be awarded to the company on the basis of a clause in the company’s statutes and not via
the call for tenders required by the Community rules governing this area (Directive 92/50/EEC (1) on
supply contracts and Directive 97/52/EC (2) on service contracts).

Furthermore, the transfer to a joint stock company of the supervisory powers previously exercised by the
City Council calls (as has been established by the Court of Justice, not least in cases C 126/01 and C 280/
00) for greater caution to be shown with regard to principles such as equality of treatment and the
continuity of services, since the intention is to transfer responsibilities from a public-law body whose
purpose is to safeguard these principles, and which therefore enjoys a privileged position, to a legal entity
governed by private law whose purpose is to manage its shareholders’ assets, and which would enjoy a
privileged position with no particular guarantees for the market.

In view of this and since the formation of this company occasions further doubts, which will be addressed
in two subsequent questions entitled ‘Suspected breach of competition rules’ and ‘Doubts regarding
compliance with public service rules’:

1.

does the Commission not consider that
mentioned rules on public contracts;

the proposal described above contravenes the above-

2. what is its opinion on the situation described above, and in particular on the juxtaposition of the

company’s private sector status and its public service objectives?

(1) OJ L 209, 24.7.1992, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 328, 28.11.1997, p. 1.

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(11 March 2003)

The Commission would first of all like to inform the Honourable Member that it knows there are certain
problems with Italian legislation in the field of
local public services which is incompatible with
Community law on public procurement and concessions. This legislation is currently the subject of an
infringement procedure under which the Commission recently sent a supplementary letter of formal notice
to the Italian government.

With regard to the specific problem of the creation of a holding company to which a contracting authority
would transfer its holdings in the companies it controls, the Commission feels that whilst the management
of these holdings by a holding company controlled by this contracting authority could influence the
quality of the relationship between these holdings and the latter, this is not, in itself, a decisive factor when
it comes to evaluating whether the award of services to these companies under its control is compatible
with Community law on public procurement and concessions.

(2003/C 161 E/223)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0351/03

by Rodi Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Civil servants and public finances in Greece

(6 February 2003)

Recent data (2001) of the National Statistical Office of Greece (ESYE) and the Greek State budget show that
public sector employment has increased and is set to expand considerably owing to the introduction of
part-time employment. It is calculated that the total number of employees in the public sector in the broad