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Parliamentary question - E-000399/2016Parliamentary question
E-000399/2016

Assessment of cohesion policy investments in Poland

Question for written answer E-000399-16
to the Commission
Rule 130
Tamás Deutsch (PPE) , Julia Pitera (PPE) , Ildikó Gáll-Pelcz (PPE) , András Gyürk (PPE) , Andor Deli (PPE) , Norbert Erdős (PPE) , Ádám Kósa (PPE) , Pál Csáky (PPE) , László Tőkés (PPE) , György Schöpflin (PPE) , Andrea Bocskor (PPE) , Kinga Gál (PPE) , József Szájer (PPE) , György Hölvényi (PPE)

The Commission has awarded two tender contracts to Altus Zrt. The second tender contract was awarded on 19 November 2015 with the aim of assessing the expected impact of cohesion policy investment in Poland between 2014 and 2020.

Given that the owner of Altus’s shares is former Hungarian Socialist Prime Minister and current opposition MP Ferenc Gyurcsány, the Commission has tasked a company linked directly to an active Socialist politician with evaluating the implementation of cohesion policy documents prepared by previous centre-right Polish governments, a politician who can use part of the revenues to support his party ‘Democratic Coalition’.

How can the Commission explain that the second contract awarded to Altus does not imply a political conflict of interest, forbidden party financing from taxpayers’ money and thus interference with a Member State’s internal affairs?

While the Commission expects Member States to observe stringent public procurement rules, the tender contracts awarded to Altus show that the Commission does not apply the same level of strictness to itself. If the conflict of interest rules used by the Commission in its own public procurement procedures allow the company of an active politician to win a Commission tender contract, then revision of these rules is worth considering. When does the Commission intend to revise the current rules?