WRITTEN QUESTION E-0508/00 by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission. Real per capita gross regional product figures.
C 374 E/92 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 28. 12. 2000 The Commission applies the following rules in respect of the hours of the working day: the official hours are from 8. 30 (8. 45 on Monday) to 13. 00 and from 14. 15 to 17. 30 (16. 30 on Friday). During these hours there has to be a permanent presence in each service. The following facilities have been agreed for flexible working hours: all staff must be present from 9. 30 to 12. 00 and from 14. 45 to 17. 00 except on Fridays when this obligatory presence ends at 16. 00. The remaining flexible hours must be worked between 8. 00 and 20. 00 with an obligatory 30 minutes break for lunch and with the daily working hours being limited to 10 hours per day. Management of the flexible working time is the responsibility of each head of unit who determines the appropriate control in agreement with his or her personnel. These rules apply in principle to all staff covered by the Staff Regulations working in Brussels. For other working places the details related to flexible working time are determined in accordance with the needs and specificity of the location. It should be noted that many officials often work more hours than the normal weekly working hours because of the requirements of their tasks and the relevant staff available. (2000/C 374 E/107) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0508/00 by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission (28 February 2000) Subject: Real per capita gross regional product figures Further to the answer to Written Question E-2223/99 (1), in which the Commission detailed real per capita gross domestic product and real per capita gross regional product figures for the Union, will it now make available on the same basis the latest available figures for each region for 1997? Will the Commission also explain why there is such a substantial time lag in the publication of these figures? (1) OJ C 203 E, 18. 7. 2000, p. 150. Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission (10 April 2000) The results of the 1997 regional gross domestic production (GDP) estimation are forwarded direct to the Honourable Member and to the Secretariat general of the Parliament. Concerning the delay in publishing these regional statistics, it has to be taken into consideration that regional GDP is published at the NUTS 3 level, i. e. including more than 1000 regions in the Community. Collecting and processing this data in the Member States takes time. The basic statistics, regional gross value added (GVA), are supplied by the Member States 24 months after the reference year. This is a normal time for the collection of such detailed statistics. Unfortunately it is not always the case that Member States send the data within this time; so Eurostat publication has to wait until a reasonable quantity of basic data has been supplied. Until recently there was no legal base for these statistics, so there was no instrument to enforce timely data transmission. This situation will improve when the European system of accounts 95 (ESA95) delivery programme comes into force. Then the time lag will indeed be limited to 24 months after the reference year, e. g. in December 2001 Eurostat will have the necessary information to calculate regional GDP for 1999