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PvdA Parliamentary Leader Melkert faces trouble over EU Social Fund spending
Amsterdam, July 17, 2001.
PvdA parliamentary leader Melkert faces accusations of absolute mismanagement during his period (1994- 1998) as Social Affairs Minister.
EU Commissioner Diamantopoulou demands a 200 million Euro payback for unaccounted EU subsidies spending in the 1994 till 1999 period. The Social Affairs Ministry received in total about 1.5 billion Euro of ESF (European Social Fund) subsidies in that period.
Until now, the Social Affairs Ministry is unable to present a full report on the money spend at jobs providing projects.
According to the (real) paper version of the second largest Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant issue of July 16 EU Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou wrote a harsh letter to the present Dutch Social Affairs Minister Vermeend.
She suggested that the EU Social Funds subsidies that are granted to the Netherlands should be administered by Finance Minister Zalm.
In the eyes of the European Commission the Dutch Social Affairs Ministry is messing up its management of European subsidies.
It seems like a bold step from Commissioner Diamantopoulou. Her faith in the management of the Social Affairs Ministry is nearly zero.
But she has all the reasons to mistrust the administrative handling of the Ministry in question.
In theory the projects were financed for 45% by the ESF program. But in reality the declarations were devised in such a manner that the ESF program paid all costs.
According to the Commission- Koning, who is investigating the matter at the moment, did the then Social Affairs Minister Melkert, have "little attention to the management of the ESF. Inspection got marginal attention and the supervision was limited."
It brings into question the management skills of the "Crown Prince" of Prime- Minister Wim Kok.
Ad Melkert is seen by many as the sole candidate to replace Wim Kok as party leader when he decides to resign. His electoral appeal will hit an absolute bottom if by his management failure the Dutch government has to pay back nearly 200 million Euro.
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