WRITTEN QUESTION E-3192/03 by Roberta Angelilli (UEN) to the Commission. Eurostat: clarification of President Prodi's powers of intervention.
Date: 2003-10-28
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Commissioner, Eurostat, President of the Commission, discretionary power, duties of civil servants, fraud against the EU, operation of the Institutions, political morality

27.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 78 E/237

In the event of a continuation of damage from the wreck, the Commission can accept new evidence up
until the moment it makes its proposal for an amending budget to Parliament and the Council. Further
updating, while the budgetary procedure is in progress,
is possible only if the two branches of the
budgetary authority agree. The Solidarity Fund regulation does not, however, allow the amount to be
raised once the grant has been made available.

(2004/C 78 E/0239)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3187/03

by Geoffrey Van Orden (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Free movement of bankrupt persons in the EU

(27 October 2003)

A person who has been declared bankrupt in the UK is free to live anywhere they wish in the UK.

Is a person who has been declared bankrupt in the UK free to live anywhere they wish in the EU in the
same way that a citizen not declared bankrupt would be able to?

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(17 December 2003)

A Union citizen who has been declared bankrupt in the United Kingdom is free to live anywhere he/she
wishes in the territory of the Union if he/she fulfils the conditions applying to the right of residence under
Community legislation, i.e. being a worker or self-employed person or having adequate resources and
sickness insurance.

In this respect, Community legislation does not provide any specific limitation to the right of free
movement.

(2004/C 78 E/0240)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3192/03

by Roberta Angelilli (UEN) to the Commission

(28 October 2003)

Subject: Eurostat: clarification of President Prodi’s powers of intervention

The statements made by former Eurostat Director-General Yves Franchet about the recent events which
revealed serious irregularities in the running of Eurostat contracts suggest that Commissioners Solbes,
Kinnock and Schreyer were to blame since they were aware of possible cases of fraud.

Mr Franchet claims to have informed the Commissioners and President Prodi of his suspicions of
maladministration within the Statistical Office in September 2002. In any case, at the hearing before the
Conference of Presidents on 25 September 2003, Mr Prodi stated that he was informed of the seriousness
of the situation in May 2003.

The affair is now being investigated by OLAF, the French courts and the Commission itself with a view to
obtaining reliable evidence and establishing who was responsible.

Under new Article 217(4) of the Treaty of Nice, the power to ask a Commissioner to resign lies with the
President of the Commission.

Quite apart from their actual responsibility which remains to be proven, the conduct of the above-
mentioned Commissioners has been called into question, at least in terms of ‘maladministration’ and
‘negligence’, as defined in the ‘First report on allegations regarding fraud’ submitted by the EP’s Committee
of Independent Experts on 15 March 1999 at the time of the Santer scandal.

C 78 E/238

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

27.3.2004

Following that scandal, the Santer Commission considered it politically appropriate to resign as a body on
the sole grounds that it was suspected of irregularities.

In view of the above:

1.

2.

3.

does the Commission not consider that President Prodi should, with reference to the present Eurostat
case, take action against the relevant Commissioners in accordance with Article 217?

does the failure to take such action not constitute an infringement of the moral duties arising from
Article 213(2) of the Treaty and incumbent upon all Members of the Commission?

should the decision merely to replace Eurostat’s Director-General
insufficient to preserve the EU’s image and integrity?

in July 2003 not be deemed

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(19 December 2003)

1. When addressing the Conference of Presidents and the members of the Committee on Budgetary
Control (Cocobu) of the European Parliament on 25 September last, the President of the Commission
stated that he had at his disposal the necessary instruments under Article 217 of the Nice Treaty to make
an individual Commissioner assume political responsibility should that be necessary. He also explained at
some length why, in the light of the evidence available, he could see no reason for asking any Member of
the Commission to resign.

2.
The moral obligations for Members of the Commission expressly referred to in Article 213 as quoted
by the Honourable Member require them to perform their duties in complete independence and in the
general
interest of the Community, to neither seek nor take instructions, not to engage in any other
occupation and to behave with integrity and discretion.

It would not appear that any Member of the Commission failed to respect any of these obligations in the
Eurostat affair.

It is clear in the Eurostat affair that, as soon as the Commission received the information which previously
had not reached that level, important decisions were taken to put right the malfunctioning. At the same
time, and in addition, the analysis of information flows and mechanisms in force was pursued in depth in
order to strengthen vertical and horizontal communication and to achieve greater transparency in a tighter
internal control environment.

The Commission has done more than just replace the Director-General of Eurostat; the measures
3.
taken to reorganise Eurostat are much more far-reaching and complex than simply replacing the Director-
General, and they were spelled out by the President of the Commission on 18 November 2003 when
addressing Cocobu and the plenary session.

The Director-General of Eurostat has indeed been replaced. All the posts of operational Directors have
been made vacant and advertised both inside and outside the institution. The post of Resources Director
has been filled by transfer. The organisation chart has been completely reviewed in order to take back
some tasks that had been outsourced. Priorities have been re-set, with the focus being placed on Eurostat’s
core business. Finally, there has been a large degree of mobility at Unit Head level. Reorganisation has thus
been on a very large scale in a bid to speed up the change in culture in Eurostat. The Commission
President has also presented to Parliament the broad lines of the plan of action which should be adopted
shortly by the Commission.