Patten hits back at aid office critics

EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten on Monday defended his department’s decision to award a substantial contract to one of the companies at the centre of the Eurostat scandal.

Members of the European Parliament’s financial watchdog – the budgetary control committee – were demanding answers as to why the firm CESD had landed a €999,780 contract for census work in the Former Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).

CESD featured strongly in a recent internal audit service report as one of the companies that benefited from a string of cosy contracts with Eurostat, the EU’s statistical arm.

According to the confidential report, the way the contract was awarded by the commission's aid office EuropeAid to CESD prompted serious questions about competition issues as it was not open to international bids.

However, Patten told MEPs on Monday that “CESD was felt to be the only organisation with the necessary wide access to various statistical offices and statistics in the Member States and to provide an EU-wide professionalism.”

The company had been given a “very clear recommendation in July 2001” from the Director General of Eurostat in 2001 and a go-ahead from the Council of Europe, he added.

At that time the Director General’s post was held by Yves Franchet, also the founder of CESD in 1989.

The commissioner added that key internal audit reports and OLAF information highlighting concerns with CESD had been withheld from the EuropeAid office until July 2003.

Patten stressed, however, the one of the key factors in favouring CESD was the urgent political situation on the ground.

Citing a catalogue of “sporadic violence” and “terrible human and material losses” that brought the country “close to a full-blown civil war”, he said that it had been necessary to act with speed.

“I want to underline just how important the ensuing census was, and how important it was that we should be able to initiate it at any time,” Patten argued.

But despite his lengthy explanation, some MEPs were not convinced that the commission had acted soon enough. 

“It is all very unsatisfactory,” said German Centre Right MEP Gabriele Stauner. “He practically confirmed that CESD was chosen without a call for tender on Franchet’s word.”

How can it be that the commission defends competition laws and slaps on fines for breaking them but doesn’t apply the rules to itself, she said.

Paulo Casaca, a Portuguese Socialist, said that the buck stopped with Patten. “He is politically responsible. He must be informed in the right way and make the right decisions,” he argued.

Patten’s appearance is one of a series of EU Commissioners, who have been called by MEPs to explain their departments actions in the Eurostat scandal.

Economics Commissioner, Pedro Solbes – the commissioner in charge of Eurostat – is to take the stand in Budgetary Control on Tuesday to give an update on the latest investigations. 

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