WRITTEN QUESTION E-0588/04 by Antonio Tajani (PPE-DE), Giuseppe Gargani (PPE-DE)and Stefano Zappalà (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Appointment and promotion of senior Commission officials.
Date: 2004-02-26
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Commission, European official, enlargement of the Union, personnel administration, regulations for civil servants

3.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 84 E/633

(2004/C 84 E/0711)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0588/04

by Antonio Tajani (PPE-DE), Giuseppe Gargani (PPE-DE)
and Stefano Zappalà (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(26 February 2004)

Subject: Appointment and promotion of senior Commission officials

According to official bulletins issued by the main trade unions representing staff at the Commission,
the latter is planning to appoint both officials from the Commissioners’ offices and political advisers to the
President (be they internal or external to the Commission) to top posts within the directorates-general,
thereby enabling them (through a misuse of the procedure referred to in Article 29(2) of the Staff
Regulations concerning external recruitment) to make a ‘career jump’ of a kind which is not possible under
the normal promotion procedure laid down in the Staff Regulations. This would be injurious to the
Commission’s staff, who are required to follow the standard procedure.

Such a policy could also be seen as an attempt by the Commission President and the outgoing
Commissioners to move (cid:1) without justification (cid:1) into new spheres of power within the Commisssion
structure, in blatant disregard for the need for sufficient room to be left for the acceding countries and for
the new Commission (which will assume office in November 2004) to be allowed to appoint the heads of
its directorates-general itself. It should be borne in mind that the current Commission has already replaced
50 of the 60 or so directors-general and 140 of the 200-odd directors.

In the light of the above, will the Commission consider:

1.

informing the staff and their representatives of the action it intends to take pursuant to Article 29(2)
the Staff Regulations and (cid:1) in any event (cid:1) not applying that article for the benefit of
of
Commissioner office staff and the President’s political advisers?

2. not recruiting staff from outside until it has exhausted the possibility of recruiting from within its own

ranks?

3.

creating new posts for officials from the acceding countries, so as not to frustrate the legitimate
expectations of officials who are already in service?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(6 April 2004)

1.
In preparation for the forthcoming enlargement and for implementation of the new Staff Regulations
a Communication of 18 February 2004 (1) set out the Commission’s intentions relating to the appointment
of senior officials. That Communication already provides answers to several of the points raised in the
Honourable Members’ question.

In addition, the main points of this Communication were the subject of a press release (2) and were also
immediately notified to staff on the Commission’s intranet. The Commission can confirm that, to provide
further information to the staff and its representatives, procedures for filling vacant posts will be notified in
advance in line with the regulatory provisions. This applies to all procedures for filling vacant posts under
Article 29 of the Staff Regulations. All of the vacancy notice publication provisions will continue to be
observed in full.

Staff serving in Commissioners’ offices will be considered for any vacant post only if they meet the
requirements stipulated in the relevant vacancy notice. They will therefore not be treated differently from
any other official (in the case of a procedure under Article 29(1)) or qualified citizen of the Union (if the
vacancy notice is also published for the purposes of an Article 29(2) procedure). It would of course be
illegal for the Commission to exclude someone from a selection procedure merely because he or she was
working in a Commissioner’s office.

The Commission attaches great
transparency, give clear indications as to who appear to be the best-qualified candidates.

importance to selection procedures that,

through their rigour and

C 84 E/634

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.4.2004

Posts can be filled under Article 29(2) of the Staff Regulations only if the possibilities for internal
2.
recruitment, i.e. from the European Institutions, have been fully assessed and the Commission confirms
that this requirement will continue to be scrupulously observed. Simultaneous publication both internally
(Article 29(1)) and externally (Article 29(2)) is exceptional and done periodically solely in the interests of
not delaying the recruitment procedure when there is a significant probability that suitable candidates are
to be found outside the Institution (for example when specialised profiles are required). Using such a
facility does not compromise adherence to the principle that
the
Commission) examines the internal applications before the external applications.

the appointing authority (i.e.

In its Communication of 18 February 2004, the Commission indicated the numbers and nature of
3.
the A1, A2 and middle management posts to be reserved for nationals of the new Member States.
Additional posts have been granted by the budget authority and the expectations of serving officials will,
consequently, not be negatively affected.

The Commission has always upheld the principle of reserving for nationals of acceding countries a number
of posts that is the same as the additional number received by the Institution so that post-enlargement
needs can be met. This approach allows smooth integration of officials from the new Member States and
ensures that serving officials are not disadvantaged.

(1) SEC(2004) 217/2.
(2)
IP/04/2009.

(2004/C 84 E/0712)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0589/04

by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(26 February 2004)

Subject: Enlargement of an airport in the administrative and political capital of Spain: use of Cohesion

Fund monies granted to Spain for extending infrastructure in Madrid

The Spanish Prime Minister, José María Aznar, has just inaugurated the civil engineering works to enlarge
Madrid airport. There will be a new terminal, and new runways. The final budget is EUR 2 440 million,
and the new facilities will be operational in 2005. The Spanish Government is seeking to make this airport
one of the largest and most attractive in Europe. This extraordinary amount of investment is being made
today, already centralises and even monopolises Spanish air traffic. This new
in an airport which,
investment highlights once again the fact that the Spanish capital receives economic benefits from the
Spanish Government on such a scale that the business world, political and economic decision-making, and
even Spain’s entire land and air traffic are concentrated in it.

Does the Commission know whether money from the Community Cohesion Fund is being used in
extending the airport? If so, what percentage of the monies from the Cohesion Fund assigned to the
Spanish State has been or will be used in this airport? More generally, what percentage of grants to Spain
from the Cohesion Fund have been or are scheduled to be used within the Madrid autonomous
community?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(31 March 2004)

So far the only Madrid-Barajas Airport extension project that we have approved (by a decision of
24 December 2002)
is for construction of the INTRA automated people mover system for the new
terminal area. The eligible costs are EUR 98 040 921 and the contribution from the Fund is
EUR 41 177 186 (42 %). No part-financing from the European Regional Development Fund has been
granted for the airport under the single programming document Objective 2 Madrid 2000-2006.