WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3186/97 by Eva KJER HANSEN to the Commission. Commission sickness fund administration
C 134/110 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 30. 4. 98 (98/C 134/142) WRITTEN QUESTION P-3186/97 by Eva Kjer Hansen (ELDR) to the Commission (9 October 1997) Subject: Commission sickness fund administration Can the Commission confirm the claim made in BT of 19 September 1997 that it employs 130 people in its sickness fund administration? Will the Commission provide an establishment plan for its sickness fund administration? What does the Commission have to say about the claim that 20 people in the private sector could manage its sickness fund? Does the Commission intend to call for tenders? Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission (21 November 1997) The Joint Sickness Insurance Scheme set up under Article 72 of the Staff Regulations encompasses the Economic and Social Committee, the Commission, the Council, the Court of Justice, the Court of Auditors, the Parliament, the Committee of the Regions, the Ombudsman, the Joint European Torus (JET), the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, the European Training Foundation, the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products, the European Environment Agency, the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, the Translation Centre and the Community Plant Variety Office, thereby providing cover for 77 000 persons in about a hundred countries. The Commission unit in question also manages the schemes for teachers in the European Schools and the Florence University Institute. The number of officials employed in Commission unit IX. B. 5 who deal with sickness insurance can be broken down as follows: Category A: 4 Category B: 26 Category C: 79 Category D: 1 A directory of the unit, not including officials who deal with cover for accidents and occupational diseases, is being sent direct to the Honourable Member and Parliament’s Secretariat. It should be noted also that tasks performed by certain officials straddle the sickness sector and the accident and occupational disease sector. The figures quoted by the Honourable Member do not appear in the Court of Auditors’ report, which merely makes comparisons by way of guidance, with a national insurance scheme. It is well known that such comparisons are difficult because a national scheme is usually monolingual, operates in only one country and one currency and benefits from economies of scale. Nonetheless the Commission has carefully noted the comments in the Court of Auditors’ report on ways of reducing the administrative costs of managing the fund, and an interinstitutional group is currently analysing the situation. On the basis of the Court’s report, which, moreover, does not suggest calling in the private sector, the Commission does not intend to contract out the management of the Joint Sickness Insurance Scheme