WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2055/97 by Frode KRISTOFFERSEN to the Council. Ethnic minorities
C 82/26 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 17. 3. 98 Answer (17 October 1997) 1. When they leave the service the attention of Council officials is drawn to their obligations under Article 16 of the Staff Regulations. Article 40 of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations (ônon-cumulationö rule) is also applied. 2. The Council has not so far drawn up a list of ôsensitiveö posts, for which holders would, for a period of three years after leaving the service, have to submit for Council approval a description of the duties or assignments they may be called upon to carry out. In the light of the Honourable Memberís question, the Council will consider the question of drawing up a 3. list of the posts referred to in the second paragraph of Article 16 of the Staff Regulations. (98/C 82/35) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2055/97 by Frode Kristoffersen (PPE) to the Council (18 June 1997) Subject: Ethnic minorities Does the Council of Ministers believe that the obligations on the EU Member States to protect and promote ethnic minorities should be taken into account during the imminent revision and implementation of the Maastricht Treaty? Answer (16 October 1997) The Council refers the Members of the European Parliament to the reply given to the Written Question No E-1621/97 on minority rights put by Mrs Kjer Hansen. (98/C 82/36) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2069/97 by Jaak Vandemeulebroucke (ARE) to the Commission (19 June 1997) Subject: Calls for tenders by the European Union In its reply to my parliamentary question E-0631/97 (1), the Commission evades the question at issue. In view of the importance of avoiding conflicts of interests, I believe that, whenever assessing tenders, the Commission should know which natural persons are behind a business. With this in mind, I would find it unacceptable that a contract should be awarded to a business run by an official of the body awarding the contract. I would have liked to have heard from the Commission how it checks on this and how it accordingly seeks to ensure that conflicts of interests cannot occur. (1) OJ C 373, 9. 12. 1997, p. 22. Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission (9 September 1997) The Commission understood question E-631/97 of the Honourable Member as referring to distortions of competition in public tender procedures as a result of the fact that either different companies present themselves as candidates in one public tender procedure, several of these companies being owned by the same (legal or