# CE2004078EN.01002301.xml

| 27.3.2004 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | CE 78/23 |
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27.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CE 78/23

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(2004/C 78 E/0024)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1061/03

by Roberta Angelilli (UEN) to the Commission

(28 March 2003)

Subject:   Use of funds from the Customs 2002 programme by the municipality of Ancona

Subject:

In September 2002, the monitoring committee of the Italian Ministry for Economic Affairs issued a report on the spending of EU funds.

The report reveals the alarming slowness and inefficiency with which EU funds are allocated to projects by some regional authorities.

The grave concerns about the inadequate use of European funds by local authorities have frequently been echoed by the Commission.

Bearing in mind that some local authorities, such as the municipality of Ancona, urgently need to use European funds for measures to enhance the spirit of partnership and cooperation created between the Commission and the Member States, for monitoring and anti-fraud measures and in order to improve the tools used by customs authorities in their work,

can the Commission state:

| 1. | whether the municipality of Ancona has submitted projects for the Customs 2002 programme? |
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1.

whether the municipality of Ancona has submitted projects for the Customs 2002 programme?

| 2. | whether the municipality of Ancona has secured funding for these projects? |
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2.

whether the municipality of Ancona has secured funding for these projects?

| 3. | whether this funding has been used? |
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3.

whether this funding has been used?

Joint answer

to Written Questions E-0883/03 and E-1061/03

given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(8 May 2003)

(8 May 2003)

The Customs 2002 programme financed activities that aimed to improve co-operation between the Customs administrations of the Member States in the internal market (1). The programme distinguishes between two type of activities: IT activities (2) and Joint and Other actions (3).

1

2

3

The IT activities concern the Customs IT systems. For instance Transit. The Joint and Other Actions were organised by the Commission and the Customs administrations of the Member States. The participants in the events were officials from these administrations.

The financial management of Joint and Other Actions part of the programme is organised in the following way: the Commission pays an advance to the administrations of the Member States concerned while these administrations make the necessary payments. Examples of payments are paying for a plane ticket of a participant or paying an invoice for a conference facility when an administration hosts a seminar. The administrations of the Member States have to report twice a year to the Commission on the expenses financed from the programme budget.

Consequently, the Commission can inform the Honorable Member that the municipalities of Ancona and Fiumicino did not fit the criteria for participating in the Customs 2002 programme and therefore did not submit projects or secured any funding.

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(1)  The Programme Decision gives a detailed overview of the objectives of the programme. (Customs 2002 Decision No 210/97/EC of 19 December 1996, amended by Decision No 105/2000/EC of 17 December 1999).

1

(2)  Information Exchange and Communication Systems.

2

(3)  For instance seminars, exchanges, working or benchmarking groups.

3

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