Court annuls appointment of EU institution chief

Date:18/09/03

By Martin Banks

The European Court of Justice took the unprecendented step of annulling the appointment of the head of an EU institution today (18 September).

It ruled that proper procedures were not followed when Vincenzo Falcone was made secretary-general of the Committee of the Regions in June 2000.

Falcone had been serving as the Committee's acting secretary general for several months before he was given the job permanently.

The action against his appointment was brought by Spyridon de Athanassios Pappas, an unsuccessful Greek candidate for the job.

Pappas, backed by Union Syndicale, the largest EU staff union, claimed his file was not dealt with properly and that Falcone, an Italian, had an administrative role in the selection process.

The Court ruling is highly damaging for the CoR which is already the subject of a major inquiry by OLAF, the EU's anti-fraud office, into alleged false expenses claims by Committee members.

The OLAF probe was launched after a dossier of irregularities was presented by the CoR's internal auditor, Robert McCoy. OLAF is expected to report its findings at the end of this month.

The CoR suffered further embarrassment last week when the European Parliament's budgetary control committee voted in favour of freezing 25% of the €5.5 million set aside in the CoR budget for members' expenses and travel allowances for 2004.

The Parliament had previously voted against approving the CoR's 2001 accounts over concerns that its financial controls were insufficient.

Alan Hick, president of Union Syndicale's Brussels branch, said the ECJ's decision had vindicated the union's decision to back Pappas.

The union has in the past organised strikes against the CoR because of its alleged failure to respect recruitment and promotion procedures.

A member of the budgetary control committee said: "Falcone virtually wrote his own job description and his appointment was a complete stitch up."

Pappas, a former head of both the consumer policy and communication directorates in the European Commission, no longer works for the EU institutions. He claimed he was unfairly treated during the 2000 selection process because a dossier circulated to its executive board gave incomplete details of his previous work experience.

Falcone was recently adminished by his political boss, CoR president Sir Albert Bore. The Italian had responded to a letter sent to Bore by MEPs, which the president felt was a matter for him alone to deal with.

Falcone, whose five-year term is due to end in 2005, was today (18 September) on his way to Italy for a meeting tomorrow of the CoR's 40-strong bureau, and was unavailable for comment.

The bureau, made up of its president, vice president and representatives of each national delegation, is expected to discuss the ECJ decision at the meeting.

A spokesman for the Luxembroug-based Court said: "The decision to annul Falcone's nomination effectively means the post of chief executive of the CoR is now vacant.

"It is very rare for someone to win a staff case such as this."

A CoR spokesman said the court's ruling would be examined by their legal experts. He added: "Until then we cannot comment."

The CoR is the youngest of the EU's institutions, created by the Maastricht Treaty of 1991. Its members represent the local and regional authorities across Europe,. They are consulted by the European Commission and Parliament on a range of issues, but have no real power in Brussels.

The European Court of Justice ruled on 18 September 2003 that the appointment of Vincenzo Falcone as Secretary-General of the Committee of the Regions should be annulled. The Court found that there were irregularities over Mr Falcone's appointment.

An earlier version of this article appeared on page 4 of the print version of European Voice.