WRITTEN QUESTION E-3988/03 by Gabriele Stauner (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Doctoring of information passing between Commissioner Solbes and Eurostat.
Date: 2004-01-07
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Anti-fraud Office, European Commission, Eurostat, operation of the Institutions, political morality

3.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 84 E/279

(2004/C 84 E/0324)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3988/03

by Gabriele Stauner (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(7 January 2004)

Subject: Doctoring of information passing between Commissioner Solbes and Eurostat

In his Eurostat Briefing Note of 24 September 2003 the Commission’s Internal Auditor, Mr Muis, reported
occurrences which suggested that there had been doctoring of information passing between Commissioner
Solbes’s office and the Eurostat Directorate-General. According to the report,
information about the
existence of a slush fund in connection with the datashops was contained in the draft of a note sent by
Eurostat to Solbes’s office in summer 2002. This information was no longer included in the final version
of the note.

In his report Mr Muis writes:
‘The reasons for the omission of this key information remain unclear.
According to the responsible Commissioner’s Cabinet, upon receipt of the draft note, it requested that
some formal changes be made and that the text relating to a specific contractor be clarified. According to
the Cabinet, no request was made by them to remove the above key issues relating to datashops’. In a note
sent to the Budgetary Control Committee on 15 November 2003 entitled ‘Eurostat: les accusations et les
griefs’, Mr Franchet says that he gave instructions in summer 2002 to inform Mr Solbes’s office of all the
occurrences reported to OLAF.

Can the Commission provide me with copies of the abovementioned draft and the final version of the
note?

What steps has the Commission taken to discover who was responsible for removing the references to the
slush fund? Was an administrative investigation carried out into this matter? If not, why not? If so, what
was the outcome?

Is it common practice in the Commission for Commissioners’ offices to negotiate with the services
involved on the content of notes sent to them on the basis of drafts, or was this case an exception?

Was the Commissioner responsible aware of these negotiations? Does the official responsible for the
negotiations with Eurostat on the content of the note still work in Mr Solbes’s office?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(25 March 2004)

The draft and final note mentioned by the Honourable Member were transmitted by the Commission on
2 December 2003, under the provisions of the Annex III, Article 3.2 of the Framework Agreement of
5 July 2000 to the chairwoman of the Committee on Budgetary Control Mrs Theato and to Mr Bayona,
2002 general discharge rapporteur, and Mr Casaca, 2001 general discharge rapporteur.

The sequence of events, which has been reconstructed on the basis of the questioning of those involved
and the findings of the IAS, was communicated in a letter from the Commission that same day to the same
three members.

The sequence of events has also been described in the joint reply given by the Commission to Written
Questions E-0169/04 to E-0171/04 by Mr Heaton-Harris (1) and to the PE 338.732/FIN questionnaire on
the Discharge for 2002 (cid:1) general budget.

As the Honourable Member is aware, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) is investigating the events at
Eurostat and the Commission will consider whether a further administrative inquiry is appropriate in the
light of the outcome of the inquiry by OLAF.

There was no negotiation involved in this matter. It is usual practice to ask for clarifications and further
explanations with regard to a text prepared by the services.

C 84 E/280

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.4.2004

Concerning the final question, as said above, no negotiations took place. The cabinet member responsible
for Eurostat at the time has since left the cabinet.

(1) See page 327.

(2004/C 84 E/0325)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3994/03

by Raffaele Costa (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(7 January 2004)

Subject: Culture and languages programme

The framework programme for culture and languages, with a total budget of EUR 39 million, includes
among its objectives the promotion of cultural dialogue and of mutual awareness, on the part of the
peoples of Europe, of each other’s culture and history.

Can the Commission enumerate and identify the projects funded in 2002, and provide information on
their success?

Answer given by Ms Reding on behalf of the Commission

(11 February 2004)

The Commission would draw the Honourable Member’s attention to the fact that a full, detailed list of all
projects supported by the Culture 2000 programme in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003 (together with the
beneficiaries, partners and amounts granted)
is available on Internet at the following address: (http://
europa.eu.int/comm/culture/eac/index_en.html).

(2004/C 84 E/0326)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3995/03

by Raffaele Costa (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(7 January 2004)

Subject: Projects relating to the information society

An action was proposed, under the fifth framework programme for research, relating to measurements and
tests, with five calls for proposals over the period July 1999 to March 2002, to be covered by a total
budget of EUR 46 million.

Can the Commission supply the names and nationalities of the successful candidates, and state the number
of projects rejected and the grounds for rejection? Can it also state whether the results obtained have been
verified?

Answer given by Mr Busquin on behalf of the Commission

(16 February 2004)

The ‘Competitive and sustainable growth’ specific programme (5th Framework Programme for Research
and Technological Development (RTD) 1998-2002) generated over 2 400 contracts of which 245 were in
the Generic Activity Measurements and Testing.

The Honourable Member’s question relates to the five dedicated calls published in the Generic Activity
Measurements and Testing with an indicative budget of EUR 47 million.

In total, 75 projects with a total Community contribution of EUR 56 million have been funded as a result
of the five consecutive dedicated calls of the 5th Framework Programme for RTD. Details of all the
projects are given in the projects database on the Cordis website (http://www.cordis.lu).