WRITTEN QUESTION P-1274/03 by Gabriele Stauner (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Conflict of interests at Eurostat.
Date: 2003-03-27
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU financing, European official, Eurostat, access to EU information, fraud, invitation to tender, private sector, public administration, shareholding, statistics

C 242 E/224

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

9.10.2003

The experts consulted, supported by the Regulatory Committee, recommended that the choice of the
photographs to accompany each of the fourteen additional health warnings foreseen in annex I to
Directive 2001/37/EC be made at a European level. This implies establishing a centralised library giving a
choice of photographs for each of the additional health warnings, so that each Member State can choose
the photograph which best suits its cultural realities.

Immediately after the adoption of the Decision, the Commission will therefore launch a call for tender
concerning the production of suitable photographs. These will be subject to large-scale pre-testing with
different target groups across Europe,
in order to take cultural, social and age-related differences into
account.

As a consequence of the implementation of Directive 2001/37/EC, new and larger health warnings on
cigarette packets throughout the Member States have started appearing since the end of 2002, and this
new layout is mandatory without any further derogation as of 30 September 2003. In order to take full
advantage of the impact of this new design on the consumer, it is advisable to introduce additional new
elements, such as colour photographs, only after the new health warnings have been in operation for a
certain length of time.
the inevitable wear-out phenomenon can be delayed, and the
consumer’s attention can be caught over a longer stretch of time. For this reason, the draft Decision
stipulates that, where Member States decide to require the use of colour photographs, the relative
provisions should not enter into force before 1 July 2004.

In this way,

(1) OJ L 194, 18.7.2001.

(2003/C 242 E/263)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1274/03

by Gabriele Stauner (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(27 March 2003)

Subject: Conflict of interests at Eurostat

In its answer to my Written Question P-3742/02 (1), the Commission refers to a series of decisions and
documents which apparently justify the participation of Eurostat, represented by its Director-General, in the
establishment and management of Eurocost A.s.b.l., a private company.

That company was involved in serious irregularities (falsification of accounts, double and triple financing
of projects, theft of IT equipment) at a cost of more than EUR 1 million to the Community budget.

Can the Commission forward to me copies of the decisions and documents referred to SEC(94) 389,
SEC(95) 1684 and SEC(98) 1217?

The Commission states that the Director-General of Eurostat was also a member of CESD-Communautaire
and a founder member of CESD-Madrid, CESD-Lisbon and CESD-Rome, remaining a member thereof until
2000.

Can the Commission forward to me copies of the documents on the basis of which the Director-General
applied for authorisation to carry out those activities and/or which gave Commission authorisation for
those activities?

Can the Commission forward to me a list of all the payments which CESD-Communautaire, CESD-Madrid,
CESD-Lisbon and CESD-Rome respectively received from the Community budget?

Can the Commission list all the instances in which contracts were concluded with those associations
without a prior call for tenders and indicate the amounts involved in each one and why calls for tender
were dispensed with?

(1) OJ C 161 E, 10.7.2003, p. 136.

9.10.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 242 E/225

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(7 May 2003)

to access the three Commission documents will be handled in
The Honourable Member’s request
accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2001,
concerning access to documents of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission (1).

The Commission approved the continued participation of Eurostat in the CESD-COM and decided that it
would be phased out. This was followed and since 1997, no Eurostat official has had any participation in
the CESD-COM.

The entities CESD Madrid, Lisbon and Rome were created at the request of the Statistical Institutes of the
corresponding Member States on the basis of the experience of CESD Paris, created by INSEE and the
Commission (Directorate General (DG) Eurostat and DG Development) in the early 60s (cid:1) an experience
which proved positive in promoting the training of statisticians and the statistical cooperation with
developing countries. The Director Generals of the National Statistical Institutes of Member States (cid:1) which
are parts of the public administration (cid:1) were members of these entities as was also the Director General of
Eurostat, in recognition of the central role that Eurostat is ensuring in the development of the European
Statistical System and statistical cooperation in general. CESD-Lisbon was created in 1990, CESD-Madrid in
1991 and CESD-Rome in 1996. No specific authorisation for the participation in these entities was
requested as it was considered that the activities were ancillary and complementary to those of the CESD-
COM. Following the Commission’s policy of phasing-out the participation, all Eurostat staff progressively
resigned and this process was completed in 2000. The resignations were rather later than for CESD-COM
(completed in 1997) but this was because the entities concerned had to be restructured whilst continuing
to ensure an acceptable level of participation in statistical cooperation with developing countries.

CESD-COM received subsidies from Eurostat from the time it was set up until 1999, when the last subsidy
was granted. The Director-General of Eurostat, Mr Yves Franchet, was its President until 1995.

Tables giving the lists of data required by the Honourable Member and mentioned in the two final
paragraphs of the written question are in the process of being established and will be transmitted as soon
as available.

(1) OJ L 145, 31.5.2001.

(2003/C 242 E/264)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1281/03

by María Sornosa Martínez (PSE) to the Commission

Subject: Legislation on the habitability of dwellings in the EU

(4 April 2003)

The acquis communautaire relating to the environment contains a number of legislative texts on the
habitability of buildings intended as dwellings. The EU has legislated in areas such as the use of asbestos in
the construction of buildings, the measurement and management of ambient noise and the energy
efficiency of buildings. However, there is no directive or recommendation which, in the interests of public
well-being and safety, regulates other isues affecting the habitability of buildings intended as dwellings,
such as minimum size of living area, insulation, conditions of access, surroundings, and so on.

In the case of Spain a major debate is under way concerning the lack of habitability criteria, with particular
reference to thermal and acoustic standards. Hence the existence of Community reference legislation on
the habitability of dwellings could be useful as a means of harmonising the individual Member States’
existing laws and of laying down certain minimum criteria relating to welfare, protection against pollution
and the safety of people living in the EU.