91996E1016

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1016/96 by Nel van Dijk (V) to the Commission (26 April 1996)

Subject: Selecting NOW projects in Italy

Selecting NOW projects is a matter for the national authorities and complaints about this selection have to be considered by the national courts. The organization 'Il Cenaclo' in Italy intends to lodge a complaint about the selection of NOW projects in that country. The organiser of the Italian project has also approached the Commission with a request to continue with the project now that it has started, even without any EU funding, together with its partner organizations in Belgium, Greece and Spain.

1. Can organizations not selected under the NOW programme act, or continue to act, as partners of organizations which have been selected?

2. Is the Commission able to monitor compliance with the criteria it has laid down for the selection procedure for NOW projects, and if so does it actually do so?

3. Can the Commission provide information about the time-scale and the way in which projects were selected in Italy?

4. Has the Commission received Il Cenacolo's complaint, and what action has it taken?

Answer given by Mr Flynn on behalf of the Commission (25 June 1996)

1. Any organisation is free to cooperate with organisations accepted for funding under the Employment - NOW Community initiative.

2. The selection of projects under the Employment Community initiative in Italy is the responsibility of the Italian authorities in accordance with the operational programme agreed between the Commission and Italy in December 1994. Under the terms of this operational programme, the Italian authorities will shortly present to the Commission a report on how the selection procedure is carried out in Italy. This will be carefully examined by the Commission.

3. Timetable and procedures for project selection are a matter for the Italian authorities in the first instance. Once the report referred to above is available, the Commission will request the Italian authorities to make available a copy to the Honourable Member.

4. The Commission has received a complaint about the project submitted by the organisation 'Il Cenacolo'. Since the matters raised in the complaint are the responsibility of the Italian authorities, the Commission has referred the complaint to them.