WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3253/98 by Maren GÜNTHER to the Commission. Commission competition 1998
29. 4. 1999 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 118/167 (1999/C 118/211) WRITTEN QUESTION P-3136/98 by Ernesto Caccavale (UPE) to the Commission (9 October 1998) Subject: Cancellation of European Commission open competition for the recruitment of officials Very serious allegations have been reported in the press and made directly by a number of candidates in the open competition organised by the Commission and held in various European centres on 14 September 1998. Some candidates reported that copies of the logical reasoning and mathematics test papers had been obtained in advance but that the invigilators for the selection tests failed to act on this information. In the Brussels centre there were a number of complaints that candidates had been able to use mobile phones in the toilets between tests and fill in the answers on the optical reader form. In the Rome centre, during the French test, different test papers were handed out to candidates in different examination rooms. As a result, whilst photocopies were being made of the same documentation for all the candidates, candidates had time to contact people outside by various means and fill in the optical reader form with additional answers, exceeding the time limit set for each test. There have been reports on the Internet concerning the massive blunder at the Milan centre where the tests were held near Assago instead of the location stated in the letter of convocation. After these allegations were confirmed, following the initiative of several MEPs, the European Com- mission decided on 24 September to cancel the competition. Given the serious nature of these events which severely undermine the credibility of the European institutions, can the Commission: › state its reasons for cancelling the tests? › indicate exactly what irregularities occurred? › say in how many and in which centres these irregularities occurred? › indicate how much it cost the Community budget to organise the tests? › say what measures it intends to take vis-à-vis those responsible? › state whether similar allegations have been made following other competitions in the past? › list all the allegations made following other competitions and the action taken on them? (1999/C 118/212) WRITTEN QUESTION E-3253/98 by Maren Günther (PPE) to the Commission (28 October 1998) Subject: Commission competition 1998 The Commission competition (concours) held in September at 37 locations in all 15 Member States was cancelled after a number of instances of fraud were discovered. This incident raises a number of questions: 1. What is the Commissionís estimate of the cost to the European taxpayer of repeating the competition?