WRITTEN QUESTION E-1754/99 by Klaus-Heiner Lehne (PPE-DE) to the Council. Costs of employing Mr Hombach and his staff.
C 219 E/22 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 1. 8. 2000 Does the Understanding imply that the Commission accepts US extraterritorial legislation if European 5. firms are not affected thereby? 6. What is the new Prodi Commissionís position on the problematic issue of extraterritorial legislation? Answer given by Mr Lamy on behalf of the Commission (21 October 1999) The former member of the Commission in charge of trade replied by letter of 4 June 1999 to Mr Gilmanís letter. A copy of this letter has been sent, at their request, to the members of the committee on industry, external trade, research and energy. Since the understanding on, inter alia, the Helms-Burton Act, reached with the United States on 18 May 1998 at the Community and United States Summit in London, the Commission has consistently pressed the American Administration on the question of the waiver to Title IV of the Helms-Burton Act which is the prime condition for the entry into force of the understanding. The Commission remains very concerned that no tangible progress has so far been made on this, without which the Community cannot ü of course ü deliver its side of the bargain. The understanding is of a political nature and does not in any way give validity to the illegal provisions of the Helms-Burton Act. On 25 May 1998, the General Affairs Council took note of the decisions and statements made at the 18 May Community and United States summit. As far as the Commission knows, no national parliament has expressed any opinion on the understandings. Accession to the LomØ Convention is a matter of negotiation between the applicant country and the other members of the LomØ Convention. The Community supports Cubaís request to join the LomØ Convention negotiations as an observer, without prejudice to any future decision on Cuban membership. As is made clear in the Commissionís reply to Mr Gilman, the Commission is opposed both in law and in principle to the imposition of secondary boycotts and legislation with extraterritorial effect and retro- activity. The understandings do not alter the Commissionís conviction that the Helms-Burton Act is contrary to international law and World trade organisation rules. This remains the Commissionís position. (2000/C 219 E/029) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1754/99 by Klaus-Heiner Lehne (PPE-DE) to the Council (1 October 1999) Subject: Costs of employing Mr Hombach and his staff On 10 June 1999 EU foreign ministers appointed Mr Bodo Hombach Coordinator of the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe. Can the Commission answer the following questions: 1. Which persons are on Mr Hombachís staff, and by which Member States have they been sent? 2. What are the staffing costs for employing Mr Hombach and his staff? 3. What proportion of the costs of employing Mr Hombach and his team comes from the EU budget? 4. What contribution does each Member State have to make towards the staffing costs? 5. Has the Federal Republic of Germany promised the other Member States that it will provide the majority of staff and bear the main share of staffing costs? 6. Have individual Member States indicated that they will not contribute to staffing costs? 7. How are staffing costs to be financed in the next few years? 1. 8. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 219 E/23 Reply (31 January 2000) 1. The current staff of the Office of the Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact is composed of: ü 3 Deputy Special Coordinators (nationals respectively of the US, Netherlands and Finland) responsible for the three Working Tables; ü An Envoy responsible for relations with countries in SEE (national of the FYROM); ü 1 Head of Cabinet (German national); ü 1 Advisor (Italian national); ü 1 Deputy head of Cabinet and Spokesman (UK national); ü 3 Aí grade officials for WT I (respectively Danish, Hungarian and Swiss nationals); ü 2 Aí grade officials for WT II (respectively French and Austrian nationals); ü 2 Aí grade officials for WT III (respectively German and Swedish nationals); 2. All Aí grade officials are seconded by their Governments to the Stability Pact office. Their salaries and personal living costs in Brussels are covered by the respective Governments. The Office has hired an accountant and four secretaries. Regarding both the A and B grades, the Office is not yet at full strength. The European Union has approved Joint Action 1999/523/CFSP of 3. the 29 July allocating EUR 850 000 for the period ending on 31 December 1999. The amount covers Mr Hombachís salary, the running costs of the Office and the travelling costs of members of the staff who are EU nationals. The Federal Republic of Germany has made no such promise; it does not bear the majority of the 4. staffing costs and does not provide the majority of staff members. 5. No individual EU Member State has indicated that it will not contribute to staffing costs. 6. The way staffing costs are to be financed in the next few years is to be decided by the Stability Pact participants. The Council would point out in this connection the leading role played by the Union in the Stability Pact, a role which it has requested during the whole process and which it is acknowledged to have by all participants in the Pact itself. (2000/C 219 E/030) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1768/99 by Jan Andersson (PSE) to the Commission (11 October 1999) Subject: Situation of disabled staff at the Commission I have recently received a copy of an open letter addressed to the President of the European Parliament. This letter, which has most probably already come to the Commissionís knowledge (failing which I can send a copy) describes the working conditions of a blind freelance translator at the Commission. The description of these working conditions makes it clear that the Commissionís efforts to improve the work situation of the disabled leave much to be desired. I should be grateful to learn the exact circumstances of this case. Will the Commission therefore comment on the circumstances as described in the open letter from the freelance translator, and describe the contents of the plans it surely has as a minimum for improving the working conditions and promoting the recruitment of people with disabilities?