European social Fund ESF: guidelines for the innovative measures (Regulation (EC) No 1784/99, Art. 6)

The committee unanimously adopted the report by Gabriele STAUNER (EPP/ED, A) on innovative measures under Article 6 of the ESF Regulation. The report claimed that the text on innovative measures submitted by the Commission did not fullfil the criteria set out in the guidelines. The Commission should clarify the text as regards: the substantive definition of innovation, administrative procedures, the evaluation of measures carried out and the strategy for disseminating results. The report stressed that the search for innovative approaches in the field of labour market policy required consultation of the broadest possible spectrum of the relevant players. It opposed the practice of restricted calls for proposals and urged the Commission to publish calls for the proposals in the Official Journal as part of a more substantial and wider-ranging information policy seeking to mobilise the broadest possible group of potential participants. When drawing up support criteria and selecting projects, the Commission should take into account their relevance for the European Employment Strategy, innovative features as regards the objective and implementation of the measure, quality and permanence of the measure and transferability of the results under the ESF. The committee called on the Commission to forward information to the EP concerning the pilot projects and studies undertaken together with an evaluation report on the implemenation of the innovative measures during the period 1994-1999, including the new jobs created and the quality of these jobs, and an evaluation of the measures undertaken in the current programming period in connection with each individual call for proposals. It also called on the Commission to inform the EP on an annual basis of its support priorities and said that the EP reserved the right to submit proposals to the Commission for support priorities in its resolution on the budgetary guidelines. �