WRITTEN QUESTION P-0604/00

by Mario Mauro (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(25 February 2000)

Subject: Budget heading B7-6000

1. Will the Commission list all projects submitted under the abovementioned budget heading for the years 1998 and 1999?

2. Will it list all projects which have received funding under the abovementioned budget heading for the years 1998 and 1999?

3. Will it indicate the timescale and details of the selection procedure used for projects submitted under the budget heading in question?

4. Finally, will it give details of the progress of the project entitled Improving health conditions in 24 villages in the diocese of Daloa Costa D'Avorio, which was submitted on 7 May 1999 and given the reference ONG/PVD/1998/IT, but in respect of which the organisers have so far received no reply from the Commission?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(30 March 2000)

The Commission is forwarding direct to the Honourable Member and to the Secretariat General of the Parliament lists of all those projects which have been submitted under this budget line for the years 1998 and 1999 and of those which received funding.

The Commission tries to respect the limit of six months for decision on projects laid down in Council Regulation No 1658 of 17 July 1998. New management measures are being put into place in the year 2000 to try to ensure respect of this six month deadline.

However in recent years this has not been possible due to the numbers of projects received and insufficiency of staff resources. Moreover the majority of non governmental organisation (NGO) proposals require further dialogue following comments and suggestions received from the Commission delegations, geographic units and technical experts which can lead to further delays.

In the past, the selection procedure was on the basis of an assessment of each project by the delegation, geographic unit and technical experts. A decision was made to accept or reject the project on the basis of these assessments. In some cases a project is rejected because of the clear ineligibility of the NGO or project under the general conditions for cofinancing.

New general conditions for cofinancing were agreed by the Commission in January 2000. In the future, implementing the recommendations of the vade mecum on grant management, the Commission will use a call for proposals with the establishment of selection committees. However, consultation of the delegations and the geographic units will continue to play an important role.

There is at present a carry over of approximately 926 projects from 1999 for a value of 317,6 M. It is intended to process these in the first half of 2000. Decisions made will be verified by selection committees in the pre-selection and final selection phase following consultations with the delegations and geographic units. The project referred to (ONG/PVD/1998/258) is under appraisal but had to be carried over from 1999 due to lack of funds. A decision will be made in the first half of 2000.

The NGOs are being kept fully informed of developments in the management of the budget line through the Commission's own recently established web-site for NGOs (europa.eu.int/comm/development) and through the liaison committee of NGOs and its national platforms.