WRITTEN QUESTION E-1604/98

by Ernesto Caccavale (UPE) to the Commission

(25 May 1998)

Subject: Infringement of the principle of transparency of Community acts

The Giffoni Film Festival is an international film festival for children and young people which has been staged in Giffoni Valle Piana (Salerno, Italy) since 1971. The event is internationally famous and of great cultural value. In the last five years alone, it has enabled as many as 54 European films made by young directors to be distributed in Europe. The festival organizers also work all the year round to educate film-goers.

Notwithstanding these merits and the fact that over 80 000 film-goers attended the last festival, the Giffoni Film Festival has not received any aid from the Commission for four years, even though it has explicitly applied for support. The festival is regularly involved in the share-out of funds for cooperation in the film and television industries and fully satisfies the requisite conditions of eligibility, since it is aimed at a young audience, takes place in southern Italy, that is to say, a region suffering from particularly severe problems, and shows films made in Europe.

Furthermore, the few Italian festivals which have secured Community backing are based almost without exception in the centre and north of the country, in spite of the Community Directives seeking to develop and support activities in the most seriously depressed areas.

In addition, when the relevant decision-makers were formally requested to say why no Community funds had been allocated to the Giffoni Film Festival, the answer given was that the decisions in question were a matter of collective responsibility and completely confidential.

1. As regards the last point, is it not the case that the principle of transparency has been infringed, departing from the rule that all European citizens are free to acquaint themselves with Community acts?

2. Is it not the case that Community funding for film and television events for 1998 has at any rate been awarded in an arbitrary way contrary to the legislation and criteria giving higher priority to Europe's less developed regions?

Answer given by Mr. Oreja on behalf of the Commission

(6 July 1998)

The film festival of Giffoni, to which the Honourable Member refers, has on three occasions received a financial contribution from the Commission in the context of European Commission support for cooperation schemes between European audiovisual events and festivals carried out in partnership. ECU 20 000 was given in 1993, ECU 15 000 in 1994 and ECU 9 880 in 1995. This festival was not selected for a financial contribution in 1996, 1997 or 1998.

The Commission does not have the means to support all projects submitted in response to its call for proposals; the budget is limited and the number of applications is very high. A rigorous selection process must be carried out by an independent board of experts, which is responsible for examining projects on the basis of the criteria indicated in the call for proposals. Many applications have to be rejected, although this does not reflect on their interest or quality. Furthermore, the fact that a financial contribution has been given for several years does not necessarily mean it will automatically be renewed thereafter.

The principle of transparency requires the Commission to provide applicants with full information on the outcome of the call. The organisers of the Giffoni festival have received the relevant information pertaining to their proposal, both by telephone and by post. Nevertheless, according to the terms of the call for proposals(1) there are restrictions in relation to the deliberations of the independent board of experts, whose opinion is collective and confidential.

In the context of its support for cooperation schemes between European audiovisual events and festivals carried out in partnership 1998, the Commission has made an objective selection based on the opinion of the independent board, after careful and detailed analysis of the proposals. Objective criteria, relating mainly to cost effectiveness and based on parameters drawn from the files, are considered by the board members in their deliberations.

It must be emphasised that Italy submitted 11 % of all eligible requests in 1998 and accounted for 10 % of the selected projects. Numerous Italian festivals have secured Community backing since the beginning of this scheme, and have always been representative of the geographical distribution of applications submitted.

(1) ,OJ C 176, 10.6.1997.