WRITTEN QUESTION E-3358/00

by Guido Viceconte (PPE-DE), Giuseppe Gargani (PPE-DE), Francesco Musotto (PPE-DE), Stefano Zappalà (PPE-DE), Luigi Cesaro (PPE-DE), Marcello Dell'Utri (PPE-DE), Mario Mauro (PPE-DE), Amalia Sartori (PPE-DE), Umberto Scapagnini (PPE-DE), Antonio Tajani (PPE-DE), Guido Podestà (PPE-DE), Raffaele Lombardo (PPE-DE) and Raffaele Costa (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(27 October 2000)

Subject: Youth programme: late forwarding of contracts and payments

Despite the fact that the initial selection of projects submitted under the Youth programme took place in May, the projects selected have yet to be cofinanced. Delays in the forwarding of contracts and the failure to pay the advances provided for are causing major problems for many associations and having an adverse impact on the implementation of projects.

1. What is the nature of these delays and are they caused by problems inside the Commission?

2. What does the Commission intend to do to put an end to such delays?

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(8 December 2000)

The Youth programme entered into force on the date on which the Decision establishing it was published in the Official Journal. This was not until 18 May 2000. The Commission has taken the necessary measures to ensure that this late entry into force which is not its responsibility causes as few problems as possible for the beneficiaries.

With regard to the decentralised actions (which represent almost three-quarters of the programme's budget), most of the national agencies which implement them received their contracts between late August and mid-September, which is quite a short delay given the financial procedures in force. The process of releasing the corresponding appropriations is now very advanced, and the agencies are henceforth in a position to make the payments to the beneficiaries.

As for the centralised actions, the Commission introduced additional selection deadlines to allow a maximum number of organisations to submit projects and to compensate in some way for the late adoption of the programme. This has resulted in an unavoidable heavy administrative burden with limited resources.

Most of the contracts for the initial selection (May) have been sent out and payments made as soon as the contracts were returned by the beneficiaries. The contracts for the second selection will be sent out in the next few days. The third selection is currently being finalised.

The year 2000 has been a transition year made difficult by the break between the end of the previous generation of the programme (31 December 1999) and the entry into force of the new Youth programme (four and a half months later).

The outlook for 2001 is much more positive. As the Commission has drawn up operating agreements for two years with the national agencies, it will be able to release the decentralised appropriations at the beginning of the 2001 financial year, which will allow the agencies to pay the beneficiaries when required.

Moreover, the simplification of financial channels and procedures that is currently under way within the Commission should help to reduce considerably the processing time for dossiers that are managed centrally.