WRITTEN QUESTION E-0749/03

by Gianfranco Dell'Alba (NI) to the Commission

(11 March 2003)

Subject: Commission's position on a working paper written by a Deputy Director-General as part of his university activities

Activities of European Community officials who have received a fellowship from an American university are by definition of an academic nature, and involve participating in lectures, seminars and conferences, as well as producing working papers and other texts.

It is in this context that the European Union Center at the University of Miami published in August 2002 a paper written by Santiago Gómez-Reino, Deputy Director-General at the Commission, who was then on long-term mission in the United States. The paper, entitled La actualidad del pensamiento de Robert Schuman en el contexto de la Convención sobre el futuro de Europa, was written in the context of his fellowship at the University of Miami.

In this paper, which sets out primarily to emphasise the value and relevance of Robert Schuman's thinking on European integration, Mr Gómez-Reino includes some brief personal reflections on the resignation in 1999 of the Santer Commission, taking up the view expressed publicly by a number of observers, including some MEPs, that there was a political manoeuvre to destabilise the Commission as an institution, since allegations of fraud and corruption made against it were largely exaggerated, as the findings of the Committee of Wise Men and subsequent inquiries have shown.

1. Can the Commission confirm that as part of his current duties Mr Gómez-Reino is entitled to produce texts that aim to put forward and analyse events related to the Community from a personal point of view, events that may be of interest to undergraduates and graduates of the University of Miami who are studying the process of European integration?

2. Can the Commission confirm that all European officials have the right to express personal points of view on political events in the Community's history, such as the resignation of the Santer Commission, and that therefore Mr Gómez-Reino has done nothing irregular?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(13 May 2003)

1. As the Honourable Member correctly observes, the completion of a fellowship as a Jean Monnet Chair research scholar necessarily involves publishing papers concerning the work of the Institutions. The acceptance of the fellowship implies the production and publication of the results of work related to that fellowship.

The fact that the article in question contains personal perceptions of a given episode, as is frequently the case for publications on historic events, is not at issue. Indeed, publications by research scholars would generally be expected to go beyond a mere re-telling of facts.

Since the article in the academic journal was addressed to those specialists who read the University of Miami Jean Monnet/Robert Schuman Paper Series, there is very little risk that the author's personal opinion will be confused with the official position of the Commission.

2. The observation of the Honourable Member is accurate. As the Court of Justice has ruled, officials and other employees of the Communities enjoy the right of freedom of expression, even in areas falling within the scope of the activities of the Community institutions(1). The Court has specified that this freedom, like any fundamental right, is not an unfettered prerogative but may be subject to reasonable limits on the exercise of that right in the interest of the service, such as the duty of discretion to which Commission officials are bound. That duty has not been breached in this case.

(1) See for a recent example the judgement of the Court of First Instance of 14 July 2000, case T-82/99, Michael Cwik/Commission.