WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3254/98 by Nikitas KAKLAMANIS to the Commission. Recruitment to the European Environment Agency (EEA)
C 135/182 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 14. 5. 1999 (1999/C 135/229) WRITTEN QUESTION E-3254/98 by Nikitas Kaklamanis (UPE) to the Commission (28 October 1998) Subject: Recruitment to the European Environment Agency (EEA) The European press has on several occasions scrutinised the manner in which the Commission approaches matters relating to recruitment to the Commission itself and to the decentralised agencies under its supervision. It is an extremely serious issue which affects the public image of the entire EU and does not lend itself to ‘tongue-in-cheek’ remarks as Commissioner Bjerregaard, who is normally quite a responsible person, suggested in her answer to my written question E-2566/98 (1). Furthermore, particularly after the recent ludicrous events involving the annulment of competitions to recruit officials and the allegations of lack of transparency in recruitment procedures, one might expect a more serious approach to the whole matter from the Commission and the Commissioners. Apart from the apparently rather ineffective ‘advice’ which the Commission gives the EEA on its recruitment procedures, what practical measures does the Commission propose to take to eliminate the imbalance in the spread of nationalities among its officials and does it intend to ask the Executive Director of the EEA for full and detailed information whenever staff are to be recruited in order to avoid the exclusion of candidates from countries which are under-represented among the staff of the above- mentioned bodies? (1) See page 73. Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission (25 November 1998) The Commission would refer the Honourable Member to its answer to his Written Questions E-1007/98 (1) and E-28/98 (2)and to its answer to Written Question E-3236/97 by Mr Papayannakis (3). These explain that the Agency is an independent body under Council Regulation (EEC) 1210/90 of 7 May 1990 on the establishment of the European environment agency and the European environment information and observation network (4), and that the Commission has no competence in terms of personnel matters or recruitment to the Agency. The Commission confirms that it will remind the executive director of the Honourable Member’s concerns and will request a report from the management board of the Agency, with particular reference to how the proposed recruitment procedures will operate in 1999. (1) OJ C 402, 22. 12. 1998, p. 56. (2) OJ C 304, 2. 10. 1998, p. 19. (3) OJ C 158, 25. 5. 1998. (4) OJ L 120, 11. 5. 1990. (1999/C 135/230) WRITTEN QUESTION E-3278/98 by Eva Kjer Hansen (ELDR) to the Commission (30 October 1998) Subject: Application of Article 171(2) To date, in how many and which cases has the Commission made use of Article 171(2)? How many fines has the Commission imposed, and how much money has it collected?