WRITTEN QUESTION E-2969/03 by Roberto Bigliardo (UEN) to the Commission. Management of EUR 150 000 of Community funds — involvement of a Romanian government minister.
Date: 2003-10-08
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU programme, European integration, Romania, audit, fund (EU), management, organisation, project evaluation, vocational training

27.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 78 E/199

(2004/C 78 E/0204)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2965/03

by Graham Watson (ELDR) to the Commission

(8 October 2003)

Subject: Endometriosis research funding

How much funding has been provided by the EU towards endometriosis research in the past three years?

Answer given by Mr Busquin on behalf of the Commission

(10 November 2003)

The Commission has not funded proposals addressing specifically endometriosis research in the last three
years.

A project funded in the Fifth Research and Technological Development Framework Programme:
‘Life
Sciences Programme’ (Key action environment and Health) on ‘Comparison of exposure-effect pathways to
improve the assessment of human health risks of complex environmental mixtures of organohalogens’
partly addresses this disease; it studies possible associations of environmental exposure and endometriosis.
As endometriosis is not the main focus of this project it is, however, not feasible to estimate the specific
funding for endometriosis in this project.

(2004/C 78 E/0205)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2969/03

by Roberto Bigliardo (UEN) to the Commission

(8 October 2003)

Subject: Management of EUR 150 000 of Community funds (cid:1) involvement of a Romanian government

minister

According to the Romanian press, the husband and the son of the Romanian Minister for European
Integration are making improper use of EUR 150 000 awarded under the Leonardo da Vinci programme
for vocational training. The Romanian press and the French newspaper Le Monde of 23 September 2003
further report that the Commission sent experts to Bucharest who stayed there for only one day (cid:1) at the
seat of the EU representation.

Can the Commission say what kind of credibility such a Community programme can have that

1.
awards funds to companies run by family members of a Minister for European Integration?

2.

Can the Commission provide detailed accounts of the use of these funds by the following companies:

(cid:1) Haka Industrienlagen;

(cid:1) Millenium;

(cid:1) Imes;

(cid:1) Debrom?

3. What does the Commission intend to do to remedy this situation?

C 78 E/200

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

27.3.2004

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(18 November 2003)

The sum of EUR 150 000 relates to two mobility projects submitted in 2000 (i.e. before Mrs Puwak was
appointed Minister for European Integration) and another two in 2001.

The audit carried out by four Commission officials (two days in Bucharest then analysis of the documents
submitted in Brussels) concluded that the Romanian National Agency had called in independent experts for
the evaluation of project proposals in 2000 and 2001.

The Commission did not find evidence of any external attempt to influence this process, notably on the
part of the Romanian Government of the time.

For the record, the companies Imes and Haka, which were present at the proposal submission stage, were
replaced by the companies Millenium Consulting and DE*BE*ROM respectively as partners for hosting
trainees.

Management of the mobility support measure is decentralised and is the responsibility of the national
authorities, in this case the Romanian Ministry of Education. It has set up a special committee to carry out
another complete analysis of the reports from the four projects in question, looking in particular at the
supporting documentation for expenditure. The results of this inquiry should be released in the first week
of November 2003. The Ministry of Education has agreed to take any action deemed necessary in the light
of these results.

The Commission is following the Romanian committee of inquiry’s work closely.

Following the above mission, some irregularities were uncovered by the Directorate-General for Education
and Culture during a detailed examination of the files on the management of the Community funds
granted to the four projects. The Commission has made its position known to the Romanian authorities.
The European Antifraud Office has been called in to assess the allegations and is available to assist the
authorities concerned.

In any event, the Romanian National Agency was asked, back in late 2001, to draw up a plan for
improving mobility procedures.

On a broader scale, in January 2002 the Commission began setting up a quality assurance system for the
different stages of the mobility support measure for all participant countries.

The next stage will involve:

(cid:1) developing the quality assurance approach for the partnerships: creating a ‘Leonardo da Vinci charter’

setting out the promoter’s and its partners’ obligations;

(cid:1) improving the beneficiary reporting system in order to gain a better insight into their traineeships;

(cid:1) defining what is required from the National Agencies in terms of monitoring projects, based on

previously developed best practices.

(2004/C 78 E/0206)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2971/03

by Alexander de Roo (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(6 October 2003)

Subject: Toxic ships

In 2003 (as of 1 September) 124 ships were dumped by European shipowners on breaking beaches in
Asia. This means that for all these 124 ships, toxic chemicals like asbestos, PCB, oil, sludge and paints have
found their way into the environment, polluting an ecosystem that is already being pushed to its limits. In
addition, workers on these breaking beaches have been exposed to dangerous and potentially lethal
substances.