92000E4039

WRITTEN QUESTION E-4039/00

by Hanja Maij-Weggen (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(21 December 2000)

Subject: Siemens

Have Mr Liikanen and Mr Monti received the letter sent to them by the Mayor of Hengelo, Mr Kerckhaert, concerning Siemens' plans to close its subsidiary Demag Delaval in Hengelo and relocate it to Germany, despite the fact that the undertaking involved is economically sound?

Is it true that Siemens' takeover of the Demag Delaval undertakings has still to be approved by the European Commission?

Does the Commission deem it justifiable for undertakings to be relocated immediately after takeover, even where there are no clear business reasons for so doing, when the problems caused by job losses are considerable?

Is the Commission prepared to investigate whether Siemens has complied with all European legislation relating to consultations with employees and the works council in this matter, given that some 700 jobs are at stake?

Has the Commission already replied to the letter from the Mayor of Hengelo? If not, when will it do so?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(28 February 2001)

The Member of the Commission responsible for Competition and Enterprise have received the letter.

The merger decision in case Comp./M.2224-Siemens/Demag Krauss Maffei, which also concerns Demag Delaval Werke, was approved by the Commission on 20 December 2000.

The Commission is within the framework of merger control not authorized to supervise companies' economic decisions in terms of location matters.

The Commission has no further information about the underlying facts of the allegations raised by the Honourable Member and is therefore not able to make a final assessment of whether or not there has been an infringement of Community law.

Given that Germany and the Netherlands have properly incorporated into their national law the provisions of the relevant Directives(1), the Commission wants to underline, that any issues arising in this area are in the first instance a matter for the national industrial relations' procedures, and/or the national courts.

The letter from the Mayor of Hengelo was answered on 10 January 2001 by Directorate general for Competition. A reply from Directorate general for Enterprise is presently under preparation.

(1) Council Directive 98/59/EC of 20 June 1998 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to collective redundancies (OJ L 225, 12.8.1998); Council Directive 77/187/EEC of 14 February 1977 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the safeguarding employees' rights in the event of transfers of undertakings, businesses or parts of businesses (OJ L 161, 5.3.1977); Council Directive 94/45/EC of 22 September 1994 on the establishment of an European Works Council or a procedure in Community-scale undertakings and Community-scale groups of undertakings for the purposes of informing and consulting employees (OJ L 254, 30.9.1994).