Brussels, 19/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - The sum of €720,000 from Community regional development funding - that was the amount used by Naples to set up a concert with British singer Elton John given in the region in September 2009 as part of the Piedigrotta festival. Questions are being raised as to whether the funding was appropriately used.
The affair was revealed by Mario Borghezio, MEP who is a member of La Lega Nord (Italy), and who had denounced this use of European regional funds by the Campania region as “scandalous”. Further to this, the Commission had sent a letter to the Italian authorities demanding an explanation. It was also sent to the management authority of the operational programme and to the Ministry of the Economy.
After investigation, the European Commission called on Italy to reimburse the €720,000 received from EU funding. Ton van Lierop, who is spokesman for Commissioner Johannes Hahn, said the amount will be deducted from the next allocation of Community regional funding for Campania, a poor region in southern Italy.
The spokesman pointed out that European rules allow regional authorities to allocate European funds directly if they are below €50,000 but that the funds should be used for long term development projects. This was not the case for the Elton John concert which was only part of the Piedigrotta Festival. Ton van Lierop added that European cohesion funds have provided funding of €2 million over seven years in the poorest regions of the EU. (G.B./transl.jl)