WRITTEN QUESTION E-3343/97 by Carles-Alfred Gasòliba i Böhm (ELDR) to the Commission (22 October 1997)

Subject: Participation of social and academic bodies in Community programmes

In view of the growing tendency to set up permanent pan-European structures (undertakings, associations or universities) fostered by the European Community, can the Commission say:

1. what measures it has taken or intends to take to solve the problem of the participation of these organizations in Community programmes;

2. whether it does not consider that its policy of promoting transnational programmes and then selecting the eligible projects according to a purely territorial criterion of balance between the Member States to be contradictory;

3. whether it does not consider that the fact that the eligible projects are identified with a Member State penalizes permanent European networks;

4. how the European or transnational dimension of these networks is taken into account when deciding on the possible Community co-financing of their projects, in order to ensure that they do not depend solely on the quota assigned to the State in which they have their headquarters or are represented (usually Brussels);

5. when a statute for European associations is to be drawn up and what impact it will have on solving these problems?

Answer given by Mr Papoutsis on behalf of the Commission (11 December 1997)

Under regional and cohesion policies, pan-European structures may receive direct grants from the Structural Funds if they are responsible for managing a project in the context of a transnational programme or action. However, it is not the Commission which decides which body will manage a project, but the national, regional or local authorities which submit the programme.

The Commission finances transnational and trans-European projects on the basis of operational programmes, in particular under the Community Initiative Interreg, as well as transnational pilot or innovative projects. The Commission grants a Community subsidy to the programme or project and pays it to the body responsible for managing the project. This could be a pan-European organisation or a body represented in several Member States. However, most of the programmes under the Interreg Initiative have been managed jointly by various bodies representing each of the Member States involved. The Commission has therefore divided the amount of Community support among the Member States. Where pilot projects have tended to be managed by a body representing all the organisations from the various participating countries, the total amount of Community support has been paid to this body.

For the next Structural Funds programming period (2000-2006), the Commission has proposed setting up a Community Initiative for cross-border, transnational and inter-regional cooperation in the area of town and country planning. This will heavily involve pan-European organisations in drawing up and implementing programmes. The Commission will encourage the appointment of managing bodies represented in all the Member States or regions taking part in a programme. These bodies may, in certain cases, be the current pan-European associations.

Moreover, under the Community Employment and Adapt Initiatives, the Commission has established selection procedures for projects which promote and support transnational partnerships, although ultimately it is the responsibility of the Member States to select and finance projects (in other words, there is Community co-financing as such). The numerous support structures set up both at national and Community level actively assist in establishing transnational partnerships and then creating a transnational network to link these established partnerships. It is accepted that social economy organisations are targeted by these initiatives, the Employment Initiative in particular.

As far as these initiatives are concerned, the legal statute of the transnational partnerships is only important in so far as it might affect their financial soundness and ability to achieve the objectives of the projects being funded. Nonetheless, the incentive to cooperate at European level provided by a new statute will certainly do much to promote the fundamental European objectives which underpin these initiatives.

The Commission recently approved a support mechanism for the creation of transnational joint ventures for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Community (JEV programme).

On a wider scale, on 9 September 1997 the Commission adopted a Communication aimed at fostering the participation of European Economic Interest Groupings in public contracts and programmes financed by public funds ((OJ C 285, 20.9.1997. )). The EEIG is at present the only vehicle for cross-border cooperation that is directly connected with the Community legal system and allows a large number of economic operators, and associations in particular, to be involved in carrying out European projects or programmes.

Regarding the social economy more especially, in 1992 the Commission presented a proposal for a Regulation on the statute for a European association ((OJ C 99, 21.4.1992. )), which was amended in 1993 ((OJ C 236, 31.8.1993. )) to take account of the Parliament's Opinion ((OJ C 42, 15.2.1993. )). The Commission is hopeful that this draft regulation will be adopted during a future presidency. Once it has been adopted by the Council, the statute for a European association will constitute a further legal instrument promoting the creation of such pan-European structures.