Brussels, 27/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Court of Auditors has recently adopted a highly critical report on the Community initiative in favour of urban areas (URBAN), which allocated approximately EUR 900 million in grants to 118 zones between 1994 and 1999. The Court feels that the targets were too vague and were not properly monitored. While URBAN "has supported the implementation of many urban development projects in 118 areas in the European Union and enabled local authorities to access Community cofinancing", the Court of Auditors notes in its report that the projects could also have been carried out as part of existing Community programmes (which would have avoided having to set up new procedures and costly management structures). The Commission set "numerous ambitious targets, but they are vague", which resulted in "scattershot financing". Precise criteria for determining which urban areas are eligible have "resulted in questionable selections being made".
The Court stresses that its findings are similar to those made by earlier investigations into the Structural Funds and Community initiatives, but considers that "the new regulations concerning the Structural Funds and the start of the 2000-2006 programming period represent a fresh opportunity for the Commission and Member States to introduce tangible initiatives rapidly, with the aim of simplifying and improving the programming, management, monitoring and evaluation of structural actions".
In its reply to the Court's report (annexed to the report), the European Commission defended the specific nature of URBAN funding, which was not aimed to fully solve what is, in fact, a huge problem in society, but is intended to support a number of exemplary activities. While the Commission accepts that there are certain shortcomings, it feels that these will be rectified in URBAN II (2000-2006).