(2004/C 65 E/063)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1156/03

by Roberta Angelilli (UEN) to the Commission

(1 April 2003)

Subject:   Use of funds from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund by the municipality of Ancona

In September 2002, the monitoring committee of the Italian Ministry for Economic Affairs issued a report on the spending of EU funds.

The report reveals the alarming slowness and inefficiency with which EU funds are allocated to projects by some regional authorities.

The grave concerns about the inadequate use of European funds by local authorities have frequently been echoed by the Commission.

Bearing in mind that some local authorities, such as the municipality of Ancona, urgently need to use European funds for the processing and marketing of agricultural products and for rural development,

can the Commission state:

Joint answer

to Written Questions E-1034/03, E-1038/03, E-1041/03 and E-1156/03

given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(24 April 2003)

The questions relate to the use of appropriations from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) by the municipalities of Ancona, Macerata and Pesaro. In particular, the Honourable Member asks the Commission to state whether the said municipalities have presented projects to the EAGGF, whether they have obtained funding for those projects, and whether that funding has been used.

In the Marche Region, the EAGGF Guarantee Section is contributing towards part-financing the 2000-2006 rural development plan approved by Commission decision C(2000)2726 of 26 September 2000. The rural development plan covers the whole region, with the exception of two measures implemented only in areas not eligible for Objective 2 support. The measures in question concern renovating and developing villages and improving infrastructure related to agricultural development; the municipalities of Macerata and Pesaro may present projects under those measures because they are not Objective 2 areas. The municipalities of Ancona, Macerata and Pesaro may present projects under all the other measures of the rural development plan, which include public bodies among support recipients.

The EAGGF Guidance Section is contributing towards part-financing the 2000-2006 Leader+ Community Initiative programme approved by Commission decision C(2001)4144 of 13 December 2001. The Marche region has delimited application of that programme based on a number of criteria for selecting rural areas, in accordance with the Commission notice to the Member States of 14 April 2000 (1): based on those criteria, the municipalities of Ancona, Macerata and Pesaro, whose population density exceeds that admissible under the notice, are not eligible for the Leader+ Community Initiative.

The Commission approved the above programmes after checking their compliance with the relevant Community provisions; management on the ground is the responsibility of Member States, at the most appropriate geographical level. It is up to the national and/or regional authorities responsible to implement the programmes, while ensuring selection of projects proposed by potential recipients who satisfy the eligibility conditions and present an application for support. The Commission is informed of the procedures for using the Fund under the partnership, through the implementation reports on the programmes concerned, and by the Monitoring Committees in which it is involved. The information supplied in the form of financial and physical monitoring indicators as well as evaluation data does not however relate to individual instances of granting assistance, on which — in accordance with the subsidiarity principle — the Commission is not qualified to comment.

The Commission would therefore request the Honourable Member to ask the Marche Region's Agriculture Inspectorate for information on individual recipients of support under the above programmes and more specifically on the municipalities of Ancona, Macerata and Pesaro.

(1)  Commission notice to the Member States of 14 April 2000 laying down guidelines for the Community initiative for rural development (Leader+), 2000/C 139/05, OJ C 139, 18.5.2000.