WRITTEN QUESTION E-1759/03 by Ioannis Marínos (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Corruption in public administration.
Date: 2003-05-27
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU Member State, Greece, corruption, driving licence, medical data, personal data, public administration, road safety, statistics

C 33 E/166

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

6.2.2004

Since the Commission has no detailed information on the circumstances,
Honourable Member’s final question.

it is unable to answer the

(1) OJ L 358, 31.12.2002.
(2) Council Regulation (EC) No 1447/1999 of 24 June 1999 establishing a list of types of behaviour which seriously

infringe the rules of the common fisheries policy, OJ L 167, 2.7.1999.

(2004/C 33 E/164)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1759/03

by Ioannis Marínos (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(27 May 2003)

Subject: Corruption in public administration

According to recent reports in the Greek press (Ta Nea of 10 May 2003 and others), driving tests to obtain
licences for cars, motorcycles and heavy goods vehicles in Greece are unreliable. The same newspapers also
quote the amounts of money that some civil servants receive for issuing licences to candidates regardless of
the results of the driving test and, in some cases, without testing the candidate’s ability to drive. Despite
the fact that there have been two fatal accidents within the space of a month at Tembi and Aliakmon,
claiming a total of almost 40 lives, the Greek media produce reports every day showing that Greek roads
are full of dangerous and badly loaded lorries, HGVs breaking the speed limit and dilapidated school buses.

What are the Commission’s views on road safety standards in Greece? What view does it take of Greek
driving licences given that they are considered valid in all the Member States and are issued in the
Community (pink) format? Should they not indicate the driver’s blood group? Has the Commission drawn
up its own study or does it have recent data concerning the level of corruption in the civil services of the
15 Member States of the EU and, if so, what are those data?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(3 July 2003)

The Commission deplores the two serious accidents which occurred recently in Greece. While it is true
that Greece has made little progress with road safety over the last decade compared with the other
Member States, the figures for the last two years do nonetheless appear to show a sizeable fall in the
number of persons killed each year.

Greece has correctly transposed in to national law Council Directive 91/439/EEC of 29 July 1991 on
driving licences (1).
Infringement proceedings instituted by the Commission for non-conformity were
terminated when Greece amended its legislation satisfactorily.

The Commission has not been informed of manifest fraud concerning driving tests. Accordingly, it has
produced no studies and has no precise figures. However, the matter has occasionally been raised in expert
groups, which is how the Commission has learned of isolated cases of fraud in the Member States, which
are themselves responsible for stamping it out. Nonetheless, if concrete evidence of manifest and repeated
fraud were brought to its attention, the Commission could envisage applying measures available to it
under the Treaties to deal with improper enforcement of the Directive. In any event, it will contact the
Greek authorities to obtain the requisite information.

There is currently no provision in Directive 91/439/EEC for driving licences to indicate the holder’s blood
group. Member States may provide at national level for such information to be entered, but only with the
express and written agreement of the licence holder, in line with the obligation to protect personal data.

(1) OJ L 237, 24.8.1991.