92001E1901

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1901/01

by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(28 June 2001)

Subject: Town twinning application

Could the Commission confirm in detail its reasons for refusing to grant funding to Oundle District Council, East Midlands, UK, for a town-twinning project with Germany, following the Council's application earlier this year?

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(11 September 2001)

In 2001 the town of Oundle, the host town, applied for funding from the first tranche of the Community support initiative for actions to promote town-twinning. Its application was not accepted by the selection committee because the dossier presented was incomplete with regard to point 7.1. of the call for proposals governing the awarding of support for actions to promote town-twinning(1). This point stipulates that only dossiers that include all the documents referred to in points (a) to (e) below, submitted within the approved deadlines, duly filled in and accompanied by the necessary supporting documents, will be taken into consideration.

In this case, the dossier submitted by the town of Oundle was not accompanied by the detailed schedule of the meeting, as specified in point 7.1.(c) of the above-mentioned call for proposals. Since there was no schedule of the proposed meeting, the selection committee was unable to assess the quality or the European interest of the project submitted.

The new procedure for awarding support for actions to promote town-twinning was adopted following consultation of national associations representing the twinning movement in October 2000. This procedure, which is based on the principles behind the awarding of subsidies under other Community measures, aims to make the system more transparent and effective, and to guarantee equal treatment of all those concerned.

(1) Call for proposals DG EAC No 75/00 (OJ C 320, 9.11.2000).