92001E3629

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3629/01

by Salvador Garriga Polledo (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(8 January 2002)

Subject: List of ESF-related cases of fraud and irregularities in Spain in the 1994-1999 period

In accordance with the framework agreement of 29 June 2000 on relations between Parliament and the Commission, can the Commission, in liaison with OLAF, forward a list specifying the bodies involved in the 137 irregularities concerning non-eligible expenditure relating to the ESF during the 1994-1999 programming period which have been notified by Spain?

Answer given by Ms Schreyer on behalf of the Commission

(28 January 2002)

The Commission would refer the Honourable Member to the answer it gave to his Written Question P-3135/01(1).

It notes that Article 10 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1681/94 of 11 July 1994 concerning irregularities and the recovery of sums wrongly paid in connection with the financing of the structural policies and the organisation of an information system in this field(2) provides that the names of natural or legal persons may be disclosed to another Member State or Community institution only where this is necessary in order to prevent or prosecute an irregularity or to establish whether an alleged irregularity has taken place.

Accordingly, in the absence of specific grounds, the Commission is not planning to forward the list of names referred to by the Honourable Member.

(1) OJ C 147 E, 20.6.2002, p. 111.

(2) OJ L 178, 12.7.1994.