WRITTEN QUESTION E-0103/01 by Benedetto Della Vedova (TDI) to the Commission. Use of European Social Fund resources for the Edunet project.
Date: 2001-01-29
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU control, EU programme, European Social Fund, Italy, vocational training

4.12.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 340 E/11

(2001/C 340 E/011)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0103/01

by Benedetto Della Vedova (TDI) to the Commission

(29 January 2001)

Subject: Use of European Social Fund resources for the (cid:145)Edunet(cid:146) project

The company CST srl (Centro Servizi Terziario [Tertiary Services Centre], Via Tagliamento 45, I-00198
Rome) has been promoting the (cid:145)Edunet(cid:146) project, which falls under the ADAPT2 Community programme
and is co-financed by the European Social Fund.

On 22 and 23 September 2000, a meeting of the General Council of the Italian trade union Fisascat-C was
held at the Hotel Le Meridien (Promenade des Anglais, 1, Nice).

The agenda for the meeting shows that on 22 September some kind of round table on the (cid:145)Edunet Project(cid:146)
had been scheduled for the two hours preceding the council meeting proper. CST had provided the
participants in the Fisascat-Cisl General Council meeting with a contract to sign stating their involvement
in the Edunet training programme, together with a form addressed to CST for the reimbursement of the
expenses incurred for this (cid:145)international conference on the Edunet Project(cid:146).

Clearly, the time devoted to the conference on the Edunet Project, assuming it actually took place, was
minimal and insufficient to warrant the reimbursement of the expenses of those participating in the
Fisascat-Cisl General Council meeting, at the expense of the funds earmarked for the Edunet Project. Given
the above:

1. Can the Commission verify the above-mentioned events and, if necessary, refer the matter to the

competent Italian authority?

2. Does it consider the use of European Social Fund resources for the funding of the day-to-day activities
of internal trade union bodies to be compatible with the aims and objectives of the ESF (and of the
ADAPT2 Community programme)?

3. What measures does the Commission intend to take and what control procedures does it intend to put
in place should the above events be confirmed and should the Commission agree that Community
rules have been breached?

Answer given by Ms Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(8 March 2001)

The Commission would point out that, ever since the reform of the Structural Funds in 1988 and 1989,
the management of Community initiatives is now decentralised and is the sole responsibility of the
competent national authority (for Italy: Ministero del Lavoro e della Previdenza Sociale, Ufficio centrale
OFPL, Vicolo d(cid:146)Aste 12, I-00159 Roma).

Accordingly, and for the specific case raised by the Honourable Member, the Commission has contacted
the Italian Ministry of Labour, pointing out the need:

1.

to check without delay: the expenditure and work of the Edunet project; whether the meeting in
question took place; whether the work programme of the Edunet project warrants a meeting of this
kind; whether the funding granted to the project has been used for purposes other than those for
which the project was selected;

2. not to pay advances until there is absolute certainty about the organisation of the project and the use
of the advances that have already been granted. To date, the project has received only 50 % of the
European Social Fund (ESF) budget.

It should be pointed out that the Ministry of Labour has already provided the Commission with a copy of
the letter of 8 March 2000 (Ref. 15497/AD) addressed to the promoter, in which the Ministry reminded
the promoter that expenditure had to be directly and functionally related to the project.

C 340 E/12

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

4.12.2001

It should also be stressed that the Italian administration plans to check the expenditure of all the projects
when the programme is closed. This check is carried out by the inspectors of the Ministry of Labour.
Although the Edunet project has come to an end, it is not yet considered to be closed by the national
administration because it has not been subjected to the final checks.

The Commission reserves its right, depending on the answers given by the Ministry, to send the case to the
control services.

(2001/C 340 E/012)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0105/01

by Camilo Nogueira RomÆn (Verts/ALE) to the Council

(1 February 2001)

Subject: The Swedish Government(cid:146)s statements on its Presidency objectives: the problem of unemployment

The Swedish Government has just stated that
its Presidency will be enlargement,
environmental protection and job creation. The Presidency cannot be unaware that in the European Union,
employment is mostly linked with wealth, and that the richest parts of the Union have the lowest
unemployment rate, and vice versa.

the priorities of

This means that regional development policy, essentially funded by the Structural Funds and above all the
ERDF, needs to be backed by a European job-creation policy whose main area of application will, logically,
be in those countries and regions which benefit from the Structural Funds. Such a European job-creation
policy requires specific budgetary funding.

What measures does the Swedish Presidency intend to take in order to achieve its own stated priority of
tackling unemployment?

Does the Swedish Presidency intend to promote a European employment policy which will complement
the regional development policy, with its own specific budgetary funding?

Reply

(16 July 2001)

As the Honourable Member has indicated, one of the primary aims of the Swedish Presidency is to
continue to advance cooperation on employment. The European strategy in this area is based on the
Treaty of Amsterdam and has been developed since the Luxembourg European Council meeting in 1997.
This strategy, also known as the Luxembourg process, which draws on a procedure based on guidelines
together with evaluation and surveillance mechanisms, national action plans and recommendations for
Member States, has proved effective and has promoted cooperation in the employment field.

In the spring of 2001 cooperation of this kind was continued on the basis of the wide-ranging initiative
adopted in March 2000 by the Heads of State or Government at the Lisbon Summit. The strategic
objectives then laid down on employment, economic reforms and social cohesion were followed up at the
European Council meeting held in Stockholm on 23 and 24 March 2001, the first annual Spring summit
devoted to economic and social questions.

The Stockholm European Council focussed on how to modernise the European model and attain the
strategic goal for the next decade decided at Lisbon: to become the most competitive and dynamic
knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better
jobs and greater social cohesion. There was full agreement that economic reform, employment and social
policies are mutually reinforcing.