WRITTEN QUESTION P-1889/03 by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Eurostat.
Date: 2003-05-27
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Anti-fraud Office, Eurostat, audit, management audit, report

6.2.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 33 E/185

(2004/C 33 E/187)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1889/03

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

(27 May 2003)

Subject: Eurostat

Would the Commission give details of all
September 1999?

internal audit reports received concerning Eurostat since

Would the Commission also give details outlining what was said in these documents with regards to
Eurostat?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(4 September 2003)

On 16 May 2003, as part of its follow-up to the 2001 discharge and at Parliament’s request, the
Commission sent the secretariat of the Committee on Budgetary Control (Cocobu) six internal audit reports
drawn up by Eurostat’s internal audit service over the period 1999-2002, in accordance with the rules laid
down in the framework agreement on the transmission of confidential documents to Parliament. Also
under the terms of that agreement, a report summarising the action taken on the internal audit reports was
sent to the Cocobu secretariat on 20 May 2003, and on 3 July 2003 the Commission sent the President of
Parliament the audit report entitled ‘Internal audit of the financial systems for Eurostat’, produced by the
Directorate-General for Audit on 7 June 2000.

On 9 July 2003 the Commission took note of two reports from its departments concerning financial
management and control at Eurostat. The first is an analysis by DG Budget of the audit reports produced
by Eurostat’s Internal Audit Capability (IAC). Ordered by the Commission on 21 May 2003 and sent to
Cocobu on 11 July, the report analyses Eurostat’s financial management and control systems and the
action taken on internal audit reports from the point of view of compliance with the Financial Regulation.
The second report is the interim report produced by the Internal Audit Service (IAS) under the remit it
received from the Commission on 11 June 2003. The IAS report has been forwarded to the European
Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF).

Finally, on 8 July 2003, Eurostat completed an analysis of certain aspects of the SUPCOM programme.
This report was sent to OLAF on 22 July 2003 under Article 7(1) of Regulation 1073/1999.

The Commission would also like to stress that certain audit reports are being investigated by OLAF and
that some of these reports form part of the files which OLAF handed over to the judicial authorities in
Luxembourg and to the Public Prosecutor at the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris. The Commission
wishes to ensure that ongoing investigations are protected.

(2004/C 33 E/188)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1898/03

by Jillian Evans (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(6 June 2003)

Subject: Detaining dolphins in captivity

Regardless of the size of the pools keeping them, captive dolphins cannot benefit from a diet, care or
lodging adapted to their nature,
their state of health nor their stage of
development, adaptation or domestication. They are often forced to live and breed in a manner completely
alien to their instincts. This, in short, seems to contravene existing laws geared at protecting animals.

their physiological needs,