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

The European Parliament, using the procedure without debate, adopted the report by Gabriele Stauner (EPP/ED, Germany) on the draft Guidelines on innovative measures for Structural Funds. Parliament described the Commission text as falling woefully short of the criteria set out in the Guidelines, and called on clarification of the text with regard to the substantive definition of innovation, as well as administrative procedures, evaluation of measures carried out and the strategy for circulating results. Calls for proposals should be published in the Official Journal as part of a more substantial and wider-ranging information policy. Criteria such as relevance for the European Employment Strategy should be taken into account when selecting projects. Parliament called for an evaluation report on the innovative measures during the 1994-1999 programming period, and the current period in connection with each individual call for proposals. �