Commission avoids taint as PR firm quits contract

Date: 24/10/02

By Karen Carstens

IN an effort to stave off even the merest whiff of a Santer-style scandal, the European Commission has announced that a firm employing several of its former spokesmen has pulled out of an EU public relations contract.

At the same time, the Commission reinstated a €22 million contract to beleaguered French web designer Fi System. The deal, worth about 8 of the company's annual sales, is to run the Commission's Europa website.

The EU executive suspended the contract last month after French newspaper Le Monde raised concerns about possible unethical behaviour.

It reported that one of Fi System's subcontractors was the Brussels-based consultancy GPlus Europe, which includes three former Commission spokesmen among its staff.

Two of them have taken one year's leave with the option of returning to the Commission.

'GPlus has withdrawn from the contract,'

Commission spokesman Jonathan Faull told a journalists' briefing. 'There is absolutely no conflict of interest.'

Both the Commission and GPlus had both denied any wrongdoing.

'The main contract will continue,' Faull said. 'I'm happy to say that they (GPlus) withdrew from the contract voluntarily.'

In a letter to GPlus, Faull said: 'In order for the important work under the contract to continue without further disruption, and to remove any possible grounds for problems of perception, the Commission appreciates the responsibility shown by GPlus in withdrawing.'

Faull said he regretted 'any inconvenience caused to Fi System'.

But, he added, 'it was the right thing to do'.

Nigel Gardner, a partner with GPlus, told European Voice last month that there had been 'no justification' for the Commission suspending the contract, adding that 'the manner in which the tender was conducted and awarded was perfectly legal and proper'.

The decision by his firm to withdraw from the deal will cost them €125,000 per year over the next five years - €625,000 in total.

The two other former Commission spokesmen on the GPlus team are Peter Guilford and Michael Tscherny, until recently an aide to Mario Monti, the competition commissioner.

The European Commission has announced that a firm employing several of its former spokesmen has pulled out of an EU public relations contract, following concerns raised by French newspaper Le Monde about possible unethical behaviour.