BUDGET: FRAUD PROBE STARTS TO AFFECT FUNCTIONING OF EUROSTAT.

The Commission has split the Task Force Eurostat (TFES) headed by Peter Zangl, Director of the Information Society DG, to assist OLAF in its inquiry. One part will be headed by OLAF Director General Franz Hermann Bruner. Some forty Eurostat Heads of Unit will be questioned to determine their responsibility in the existence of the double accounting highlighted in the management of certain contracts. The Commission has meanwhile decided to maintain in their advisor functions the Directors of Eurostat who were transferred on July 9 (see European Report 2792 for further details). The situation of Directors and heads of unit will however be reviewed in the light of the report which the TFES should submit to the Commission on 29 September. Notwithstanding, the pressure on the Eurostat hierarchy is weighing on its functioning. In an internal memorandum, France's Institut National de la statistique et des etudes economiques (INSEE) has expressed "concern over the proper functioning of the European statistics system in general" and points out that several Directors General of the Member States' national statistics institutes have called for an "extraordinary meeting" with Michel vanden Abeele, the new Eurostat Director-General.

Is this context of concern over the continuity of work at Eurostat, the Commission announced on...

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