Facilitated access to procedures for the issue of guarantees required to obtain ESF funds

27.11.2013

Question for written answer E-013500-13
to the Commission
Rule 117
Giommaria Uggias (ALDE)

On 5 February 2013, the regional government of Sardinia established the ‘Fondo regionale di finanza inclusiva’ (Regional Fund for Inclusive Finance), which provides financial support to banks or financial institutions so that they may grant guarantees for ESF funding to persons who meet the requirements (they must be unemployed with an approved project).

This financial ‘bypass’ system is laid down by point 2.2.2 of the Regional Operators’ Guidebook — version 3.0 of November 2010, which states that ‘Surety policies must be issued by the parties specified by Article 2 of the Treasury Decree of 22 April 1997, namely banks, insurance companies indicated by Law No 348 of 10 June 1982 or financial intermediaries registered on the special list pursuant to Article 107 of Legislative Decree No 385 of 1 September 1983, which carry out exclusively, or as their principal activity, the issue of guarantees’. It is therefore not laid down directly by the above fund.

Most regional invitations to tender for business funding are targeted at the most disadvantaged, that is, the unemployed, but these financial obligations imposed on beneficiaries in order to access the funding do not take account of reality. Moreover, as things stand, the ‘fund-bank‐ funding from the regional government of Sardinia’ procedure is unclear and tends to discourage most people who look into this opportunity.

1. Given that it is not possible to dispense with the requirement for beneficiaries of the funding to hold a guarantee, can the Commission state whether it could reprimand the regional government of Sardinia and urge it to simplify this procedure?

2. What solutions does it plan regarding access to 2014-2020 funds to avoid a repeat of such obstacles which discourage those who wish to access ESF funding to start a company?

OJ C 239, 23/07/2014