WRITTEN QUESTION E-0162/01

by Salvador Garriga Polledo (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(31 January 2001)

Subject: Blueprint for bodies involved in Community activities of general interest

The crisis besetting the Institute for European-Latin American Relations (IRELA) ought to serve as the starting point for the deliberations that are required on a specific blueprint to govern the operations of bodies such as IRELA engaged in activity of specific interest to the Community, so as to ensure that they warrant assistance from the EU budget.

Whilst it is clear that assistance ought to be provided to bodies of this kind, since the European Union and the Commission cannot embark upon activities which do not fall precisely within their institutional scope, it is clearer still that a blueprint must be in place to guard against unpleasant surprises such as this and improvised solutions to potential crises in these bodies.

Does the Commission see the need to put forward a blueprint for the operations of bodies involved in Community activities of general interest, so as to ensure that they pursue their activities correctly and that there is proper justification for the assistance they receive from the EU budget?

Answer given by Ms Schreyer on behalf of the Commission

(29 March 2001)

Since 1996, Parliament has closely monitored the general conditions governing grants from the Union's budget, in particular concerning the allocation of funds from part A (administrative expenditure) of the budget and the control of these funds. It has inserted budget remarks which lay down the conditions to be met by potential beneficiaries. The Commission has taken note of these conditions in its management of the budget lines concerned and has kept Parliament informed on the matter.

The vade-mecum on grant management adopted by the Commission in July 1998,(1) which has been in force since 1 January 1999, includes recommendations on the proper use of Community funds by grant beneficiaries. In particular, it states that the beneficiaries must be subject to monitoring and a final control, and must send in implementation reports for the projects subsidised, as well as the corresponding financial statements, which must tally with the provisional budget that was used as a basis for the Community grant. The vade-mecum also notes that the authorising officers must recover any sum unduly paid or giving rise to a profit for the beneficiary.

The proposal for the recasting of the Financial Regulation of 21 December 1977, adopted by the Commission on 26 July 2000(2) and currently being studied by the other institutions, strengthens these provisions by making them applicable to all grants financed by the Community budget and allocated directly to the beneficiaries, whether they come under a specific programme or not. The recasting proposal confirms the need for checks on reports sent in by grant beneficiaries before the amount of the grant is finalised, without prejudice to the result of subsequent checks, notably those by the Court of Auditors. It requires all sums unduly paid for whatever reason to be recovered. Lastly, the proposal provides for the possibility to ask for a security as a guarantee that the beneficiary will fulfil its obligations and, on the other hand, to exclude from the award procedures for subsidies requesters who have been found guilty of fraud or of breaching their contractual obligations in the past.

The Commission considers that, over and above these rules on sound financial management, there is no reason to interfere in the organisation and the actual running of all the beneficiaries of Community grants, who make up a vast, diverse group of bodies representing civil society, varying in form and status.

(1) SEC(98) 1191 final.

(2) COM(2000) 461 final.