Luxembourg, 24/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - The company Esedra, former administrator of the Clovis nursery - an establishment for the children of European officials - forcefully maintains the illegal awarding of this market to its rival, the Centro Studi Atnonio Manieri. At a hearing before the Court of First Instance, in Luxembourg, Esedra challenged the European Commission's attitude claiming that it had "loaded" the dice in favour of Maneiri's candidacy. According to Esedra, having called for tenders for the management of the nursery, the Commission asked questions that went beyond a simple request for clarification, which had enabled Manieri to complement its bid and win the market. The Commission is also said to have accepted on the evaluation committee two children's parents' associations that are hostile to Esedra due to cases of paedophilia in 1997 (the two suspects were acquitted by the Court of First Instance of Brussels on 27 June of this year: Ed.).
The Commission answers that the Vice-Chair of the parent association who sat on the evaluation committee had no children registered in the nursery and that he had not intervened as spokesperson for the association, but with a personal mandate.
Esedra claims that the Commission accepted the candidacy of Manieri whereas the company did not have the financial or technical capabilities to take on that market, estimated at three-and-a-half mission euro. The Commission replies that it is difficult to compare figures from one company to another as these figures are distorted due to different legislation for public or semi-public subsidies that cannot be reflected in their turnover. It refers to a letter from the Deutsche Bank declaring that Manieri had sufficient financial means to fulfil its commitments and enjoyed a "good reputation". Esedra replies that this letter from the German bank was produced later.
Esedra refers to the current situation it claims to prevail in the Clovis nursery: disaffection of the staff, lack of educational projects, strikes, social advantages abolished, flow chart demanded by the Commission's tender specifications still not completed, lack of a so-called "quality assurance" system for the canteen. The company deplores the harmful consequences on the nursery of the dispute between two associates of the Centro Manieri, who, before the Commercial Court in Brussels, "are mutually accusing each other of impeding the smooth running of the nursery and embezzlement".
Esedra rejects the assimilation made between the cases of paedophilia that took place in 1997 and the fact of not having had its contract renewed in 1999. The contract - which went from 1995 to 2000, renewable every two years - had been renewed following these affairs until 1999, date when Esedra had explained to the Commission that "it wanted to participate in this new call for tenders that would have integrated new management suggestions in the tender specifications, suggestions that the Commission, moreover, took on board and which, for Esedra, were essential", says the former administration.
Esedra says it is sure that, by rejecting it, the Commission had wanted to wipe the slate clean regarding the delicate climate of 1997 (Dutroux affair: Ed.), giving way to the panic that prevailed at the time, and for which Esedra is paying the cost.
Esedra had, unsuccessfully, asked for the suspension of the contract. In a preliminary ruling, the President of the Court of First Instance, Bo Vesterdorf rejected this request: the financial damage is quantifiable and may be refunded if Esedra wins the case, he said, adding that participation in a public call for tender "is by nature highly competitive", naturally involving risks for all participants (see EUROPE of 10 November 2000, p.15).