WRITTEN QUESTION E-1821/99 by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission. Management of the vocational training programme Leonardo.
20. 6. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 170 E/109 (2000/C 170 E/128) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1821/99 by Cristiana Muscardini (NI) to the Commission (12 October 1999) Subject: Management of the vocational training programme Leonardoí Vocational training is one of the EUís strategic weapons for successfully combating unemployment. One of the instruments available for this is the Leonardo programme which, unfortunately, hit the headlines as a result of the serious charges of fraud brought against the Commissioner responsible, Mrs Cresson, and was rightly considered to be one of the main reasons behind the Commissionís forced resignation. Article 117 of the Italian constitution stipulates that responsibility for vocational training lies with the regions. It would appear, therefore, that the programme, which up until now has been overseen in Italy by the Ministry of Education, has been managed improperly to say the least and certainly in an unconstitu- tional manner. In the light of the above, can the Commission check: 1. whether the Italian Ministry of Education was actually the sole administrator of the Leonardo programme in Italy; 2. whether the programmeís funds were sent to the Ministry of Education directly by the Commission or through the intermediary of the Ministry of Labour; 3. whether the Ministry of Education used these funds for the testing of pilot projects; 4. what relationship the Ministry of Education had with Commissioner Cresson? Answer given by Ms Reding on behalf of the Commission (11 November 1999) The Leonardo da Vinci programme is managed directly by the Commission and, in the Member States, by National Coordination Bodies. In Italy, this is the Istituto Formazione Lavoratori (ISFOL), Via Morgagni 30, I-00161 Rome. For the purposes of the Leonardo da Vinci programme, this public body comes under the authority of the Ministries of Labour and Education, whose representatives sit on the Leonardo Committee, which meets in Brussels and is chaired by the Commission. The answers to the Honourable Memberís four questions are as follows: 1. The Ministry of Education did not therefore administer the programme directly. 2. The Commission sends the funds to the project promoters, except for those measures relating to decentralised mobility, in which case the Commission sends the entire grant to ISFOL, which then concludes contracts with the national promoters. 3. As stated in points 1 and 2 above, the ministries do not receive funds directly from the Commission. 4. Only the usual relations between ministries in the Member States and Members of the Commission