WRITTEN QUESTION E-0853/02

by Maria Sanders-ten Holte (ELDR) to the Commission

(27 March 2002)

Subject: Technical Assistance Offices for the Leonardo, Socrates and Youth programmes

Following the problems with the Leonardo programme which led to the resignation of the Santer Commission, the Commission proposed that management

of the Leonardo, Socrates and Youth programmes should no longer be left to Technical Assistance Offices, but, rather, that it should itself take over the management of them. Since then, there have been more complaints about increased red tape and hold-ups in handling matters. Furthermore, national agencies complain that, because of the scale of technical assistance they have to provide, they no longer have the time to provide information and advice and carry out monitoring and evaluation.

1. Is the Commission aware of such complaints, and is it minded to bring about improvements in this connection?

2. If so, does the Commission plan to take on additional staff for the new Decentralised Implementation Units (DIUs) to be set up for the above-mentioned programmes, in order to deal with the complaints?

3. One improvement would involve appointing seconded hands-on experts in the field, in a managerial capacity too, to the new DIUs to be set up for the new programmes. Is the Commission prepared to do so?

4. To ascertain more speedily and more effectively what is going on in the sector, it would be helpful to bring representatives of the above-mentioned programmes' target groups onto the monitoring committees. Does the Commission have plans to do so?

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(30 May 2002)

The Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci and Youth programmes involve thousands of transactions every year in the 30 participating countries, which the Commission, given its level of resources, cannot manage fully on its own and which, in part, it would in any event not be desirable for the Commission to manage, out of a desire for proximity with the final beneficiaries. For the implementation of the measures of these programmes that are managed centrally, the Commission is therefore drawing on the services of a transitional Technical Assistance Office (TAO) until it can entrust their management to an implementation agency. In order to ensure that this transitional Office does not perform any public authority tasks, payments to final beneficiaries are now made directly by the Commission. For the implementation of measures managed decentrally, the Commission uses networks of national agencies set up by the participating countries.

1. The Commission is aware that the introduction of the new procedures for the internalisation of payments may have caused some delays in dealing with dossiers, and it recognises that the decisions to be taken on the granting of the funds at its disposal (BA lines, the amount of which is fixed by the budgetary authority for the funding of the transitional TAO common to the three programmes; main lines of the programmes, for which the distribution of funds must be approved by the programme committees in the case of co-financing of the operating expenses of the national agencies) mean that it is not always possible to provide these intermediaries with all the resources that the Commission would like to see granted to the management of such mass programmes. At the same time, the Commission intends to be uncompromising as regards financial management and the checks to be carried out on the projects supported by the programmes. In this area, it is endeavouring to simplify, as far as possible, in accordance with the principle of sound financial management, the rules that apply to the management of the programmes, witness a forthcoming proposal for revising the legal basis of the Socrates programme and other simplification measures (greater use of flat-rate payments, for example).

2. and 3. The proposal for a framework regulation for the establishment of implementation agencies is still under discussion. Moreover, the level of human resources that it will be possible to assign to these agencies will depend on the appropriations available to the Commission for their funding. The Commission is unable, at this stage, to specify the level or composition of the staff of the agencies. It will endeavour to ensure that these implementation agencies have the number and quality of staff they need, from the outset, in order to guarantee satisfactory management, especially as regards compliance with deadlines for dealing with dossiers.

4. The programme committees are set up on the basis of the Decisions, and the Commission cannot change their composition unilaterally. It should nevertheless be noted that, for example, the opinion of the national agencies may be directly expressed. Moreover, representatives of the target groups are sometimes called on to take part in the meetings of the committees; this applies to the European Youth Forum for the Youth programme, and to representatives of the European social partners for the Leonardo da Vinci programme.