Strasbourg, 18/05/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament adopted a resolution presented by Dirk Sterckx for the Liberal group, James Elles, for the EPP/DE, and Eluned Morgan for the Socialist group, on the nomination of high civil servants within the European Commission.
While asserting that the nomination and promotion of civil servants in each of the EU institutions stems from the responsibility of the single institution involved, the EP: - congratulating the initiative by President Prodi to establish codes of conduct applicable to high civil servants, while regretting being unable, until now, of expressing himself on the issue, and recalling that the competent EP committee must draft a report on this issue;
- support the Commission decision to give priority to the objective appreciation of merit in the nomination policies and to promote while maintaining the spirit of both the geographic balance and equal opportunities;
- welcoming the information provided by the Commission concerning high civil servants nominated by the new Commission and to which posts, since the start of its mandate. It calls (this passage was narrowly adopted, with 275 votes for and 270 against) for a report on the nomination of civil A1 and A2 servants to be presented to the competent committee every quarter.
An amendment by the Italian radical Gianfranco Dell'Alba, who called for comparative tables on the differences in competence and the power between the Directors General and the Deputy Director General according to their nationality was rejected by the Assembly.