Commission criticised over crèche probe

Date: 06/04/2000

By Rory Watson

THE EU Ombudsman Jacob Söderman has roundly criticised the European Commission for dragging its heels after allegations of sexual abuse involving several children in one of its Brussels crèches were first raised more than two and a half years ago.

Söderman says he has discovered "a prima facie evidence of maladministration" in the Commission's failure to put in place a system to investigate any similar incidents in the future. "Principles of good administration require that decisions are made within a reasonable time limit. The Commission, more than two years after the events, had not adopted an internal procedure for dealing with alleged cases of abuse within its crèches," he concludes.

In his draft recommendation on the case brought to him in 1998 by a small group of Council of Ministers' officials with links to the crèche, Söderman has given the Commission until 31 July to introduce measures to ensure that cases of alleged abuse of children within its crèches are dealt with in "an effective, transparent and timely way".

The move comes nearly three years after allegations of child abuse involving infants at the Commission-owned Clovis crèche, which was managed by the Belgian company ESEDRA, first surfaced. Two former employees have since been charged with rape and indecent assault.

The crèche's director was informed of the problem in May 1997 and the Commission in early June. But the EU executive did not confirm to parents that a paedophile inquiry was being conducted until October that year.

In their complaint to the Ombudsman, the Council officials maintained that the Commission did not act in an effective, transparent and timely way and failed to keep parents informed. In its response, the Commission told Söderman that it envisaged setting up specific internal procedures for alleged cases of mistreatment in collaboration with specialist Belgian children's organisations.

Last November, it informed the Ombudsman that a set of internal guidelines would be adopted once these bodies had been consulted, that it would work with them to establish effective external control arrangements, and that crèche staff would undergo special training in the first three months of this year.

But Söderman found there had been no significant progress towards implementing these pledges by the end of January. This convinced him of the need to issue a firm recommendation with a clear deadline for the Commission to act.

Söderman's unambiguous finding follows the Commission's decision to change the management of the Brussels Clovis crèche this August. Many officials also hope that the arrival of a new Commissioner, Neil Kinnock, and new director-general, Horst Reichenbach, in charge of personnel policy will result in a more sympathetic and open policy towards parents in future.

The EU Ombudsman Jacob Söderman has roundly criticised the European Commission for dragging its heels after allegations of sexual abuse involving several children in one of its Brussels crèches were first raised more than two and a half years ago.