WRITTEN QUESTION E-3883/02

by Konstantinos Hatzidakis (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(13 January 2003)

Subject: Use of Global Information System in Greece to provide data regarding take-up of Community funding

The web page of the Ergorama Global Information System, which receives assistance under the third Community support framework, provides financial data regarding central and regional operational programmes and projects included in these programmes. However, to date at least, no information has been provided regarding commitments or expenditure effected. As a result, aside from statements issued by the Greek authorities, the relevant information is not available to the relevant organisations and individuals.

Can the Commission provide the following information:

1. Does it consider it desirable to publish regularly on the Ergorama web page information regarding take-up of funding under the third CSF?

2. Is the use of such electronic information systems by the competent authorities to provide data concerning the take-up of Community funding current practice in other Member States?

Answer given by Mrs Schreyer on behalf of the Commission

(18 February 2003)

1. The site of Ergorama (http://www.mnec.gr/ergorama/defaultx.asp) is the main point of access to the Management Information System (M.I.S. or ...- ), for all the parties (Managing Authorities, Single Paying Authority, Beneficiaries, Ministries, as well as every Greek citizen). Much information is available about the Community Support framework (CSF) structure, Operational Programmes and Priority Centre (formatted in a number of Excel tables, Word and Acrobat documents), but, to date, no information about expenditure and the absorption of the funds has been made available in the site.

However, information about expenditure can be found in either the site of the Ministry of Economy (http://www.mnec.gr/ypourgeio/default.asp) or in the site specifically designed for the CSF (http://www.hellaskps.gr/). The information contained in these sites is derived from the data stored in the MIS, and is updated every two-three months.

During discussions between the Greek authorities and the Commission, the possibility of directly publishing expenditure information in the Ergorama site has been addressed several times. This is being considered by the Greek Authorities.

2. MIS applications are mandatory requirements for all Member States. However, the amount of information that is publicly available through their sites (or the relevant sites of the corresponding Ministries of Finance) varies greatly from Member State to Member State. All Member States conform to the minimum requirements (regarding the information that is publicly available), but each Member State has decided in its own right to provide additional information in their own MIS sites. While some Member States have chosen to publicise only the minimum information required, others have additional information and multiple links.

Greece's site (Ergorama) is amongst the most detailed and informative sites. Not only that, but recent additions, like the ability for the Final Beneficiaries to directly connect to it, or the ability to use an Oracle tool (Discoverer) in order to obtain all the necessary information in real time via a direct link with the database, are ground-breaking features.

It is also useful to note that the Commission publishes every year an Analysis of the budgetary implementation of the Structural Funds, which covers all Union countries. The last issue concerns 2001 and was published in April 2002.