92003E0342

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0342/03

by Laura González Álvarez (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(5 February 2003)

Subject: Procedure for awarding contracts for projects financed by ISPA

Is it true that the procedure used for assessing tenders when awarding contracts for projects cofinanced by ISPA and the EBRD is the one laid down by the latter institution, despite the fact that the EBRD only finances a small proportion of each project?

How can the Commission ensure adequate supervision of the awarding of such contracts in the candidate countries (and especially Poland and Romania, where this type of situation has already arisen), bearing in mind that the EBRD procedures are deemed less restrictive and transparent than those which ISPA applies to the other projects it finances?

Why does the Commission not apply its own assessment and selection procedures, which are subject to the control of other Community institutions? Why does it elect to follow the procedures of third party institutions?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(4 March 2003)

The ISPA Regulation(1) authorises the use of public procurement procedures that traditionally apply to cases involving Community assistance.

Funding provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) often contributes to financing large ISPA projects in the environment sector in the countries concerned including Romania and Poland. The opening to EBRD procurement rules is only granted to the parts financed through the EBRD loan. EBRD rules are not applied to the part of the project that is financed under ISPA.

EBRD procurement policies and rules follow international standards and are based on principles similar to those applying to Community rules, namely, non-discrimination, fairness and transparency. They are in line with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) agreement on government procurement.

For technical reasons, the EBRD is unable to apply Community procurement rules applicable to external aid which are, in any event, relatively untested for large work tenders.

EBRD is an essential source of co-financing, without which it would not have been possible to realise many large projects, especially in the environmental sector, in many Central and Eastern Europe countries. This explains why the ISPA Regulation was modified in order to establish the legal basis to allow the application of EBRD procurement rules (or those of other international financing sources that co-finance ISPA measures).

(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 2382/2001 of 4 December 2001 amending Regulation (EC) No 1267/1999 establishing an Instrument for Structural Policies for Pre-Accession OJ L 323, 7.12.2001.