Brussels, 17/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - The criticism of the European Court of Auditors concerning the Integra programme is not justified, says the European Commission. In a report published at the beginning of the week, the Court of Auditors described the Integra programme, which has a budget of EUR 418 million, as "wasteful and inefficient" as it has "failed to improve the access of vulnerable groups to the labour market". At the same time, it says, the programme was "over-ambitious, because it had too many objectives and was insufficiently focused on the target groups due to a lack of overall guidance and coordination" between the Member States and the European Commission.
In response to criticism, the European Commission recalls, speaking through the voice of Andrew Fielding, Anna Diamantopoulou's spokesperson, that: (1) the Community programmes Integra (which aims at improving access to work for the most vulnerable groups, namely migrants, refugees, ethnic minorities, the homeless and drug addicts), Adapt (adaptation of workers to industrial change and to the information society), Emploi (development of human resources) and Now (new opportunities for women) have been replaced by the Equal programme (intended to implement instruments to fight discrimination and inequality on the labour market); (2) the aims of the Integra programme are well defined and allow a certain amount of flexibility on the labour market; (3) the guidelines given in the programme are very broad; (4) at the level of coordination, it is the Member States who are responsible for the application of the Integra programme on the ground. Last but not least, Andrew Fielding added that Integra was completed end December 1999 but that the last payments were paid out 18 months later!