Parliamentary questions
WRITTEN QUESTION P-0391/00
by Maurizio Turco (TDI) to the Commission
(8 February 2000)

Subject: Utilisation of Structural Funds in Italy 1994/1999

Recent statements by the Italian Court of Auditors have reopened the vexed question of the proper use of the Structural Funds in Italy.

According to the information available to the Court, Italy is still seriously behind in the implementation of the 1994-1999 programme.

Are reports to that effect accurate?

Could the Commission provide, as soon as possible, the most recent data at its disposal concerning commitments and payments by region and by objective?

P-0391/00EN
Supplementary answer given by Mr Barnier
on behalf of the Commission
(21 January2002)

The Commission is sending the Honourable Member and Parliament's Secretariat the most recent data it has received from the Italian authorities showing the practical situation at 30 June 2001 for commitments and payments, by region and by Structural Funds Objective in Italy during the 1994-1999 programming period. The data were provided by the Italian Economics Ministry's monitoring system and can be consulted also at their website at the following address: www.tesoro.it.

The Commission would point out that the deadline for payments for the 1994-99 programming period is 31 December 2001, save for extensions in exceptional circumstances. The national authorities must then present, for each programme, before 30 June 2002 a final implementation report and a request for payment of the balance. It is only then that the Commission will be in a position to establish precisely the extent to which the appropriations allocated to each programme have actually been used.