European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) boost growth and jobs and help build everything from transport infrastructure to schools, housing, water and power supply and fund other community improvement projects. But with vast expenditures, opportunities for public money to be lost through fraud, corruption and mismanagement are rife. It is estimated that corruption in public procurement could be costing the EU as much as five billion euros each year.
In 2016 the European Commission and Transparency International joined forces to tackle corruption in public procurement in EU-funded investments. They launched a pilot initiative to test civil monitoring on a large scale and promote more transparent and accountable use of ESIF through Integrity Pacts – agreements between public authorities, companies bidding for a contract and civil society around public works.
On 7-10 October 2019, the annual European Week of Regions and Cities will bring local and national governments, private sector and researchers to Brussels to compare notes and exchange best practice in regional and urban governance.
Transparency International will be there too, showcasing our and our partners’ work on Integrity Pacts – a project that recently won the European Ombudsman’s award for Good Administration in the category of “excellence in open administration.”
Catch our two sessions to find out how governments, private sector and citizens can work together for the benefit of EU cities and regions. Registration closes on Friday, 27 September 2019.
Citizens engaging for a better Europe
INTEGRITY PACTS IN ITALY
Thursday, 10 October 2019
09:15-10:45
This workshop will focus on efforts being made to bring citizens into the process of the spending of European Structural Investment Funds with Integrity Pacts and will hear from different stakeholders about their experience to date with civil society involvement and monitoring.
A representative from the island of Sardinia’s Transport Agency (ARST), will share how the Integrity Pact is bringing their work closer to the people in Cagliari and how their experience is changing their attitude for dealing with future investments. A representative from the Regional Secretary of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities for Calabria will talk about experiences engaging with civil society and directly with communities in the vicinity of two major science and tourism projects at one of the most important archaeological sites in southern Italy. Representatives from ActionAid Italia and Amapola Progetti will share the perspective of civil society and how the proximity to citizens witnessed in their projects differs from what they are seeing elsewhere. The session will be moderated by Transparency International Italy.
Interpretation Languages: English, Italian
Civil society helping to bring ESIF closer to citizens
GOVERNMENT & CIVIL SOCIETY PERSPECTIVE
Thursday, 10 October 2019
11:30-13:00
With speakers from pilot projects in Greece, Slovenia and Romania, this session will give participants an opportunity to hear about the project’s impact so far.
Speakers will include a representative from the Managing Authority of the Attica region in Greece, who are working to implement a massive and complex flood defence system. Working with Transparency International Greece, the authority is exploring ways of bringing their work closer to the people. Representatives from the Slovenian Ministry of Health and Transparency International Slovenia will share their experiences from working together through an Integrity Pact on the energy renovation of hospitals. In addition, a representative from the National Agency for Cadastre and Land Registration in Romania, currently undertaking a mammoth task of registering land across the country, will share their experiences from 3 years interacting with civil society through the IP. The session will be moderated by Transparency International Romania.
Interpretation languages: English, Romanian, Slovenian, Greek
About the European Week of Regions and Cities
The European Week of Regions and Cities is an annual four-day event co-organised by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) and the Committee of the Regions in Brussels. Find out more about the event by following this link.
About Integrity Pacts
Since 2016, the DG REGIO-financed Integrity Pact – Civil Control Mechanism for Safeguarding EU Funds project has helped civil society to build their capacity to play a leading role in monitoring use of ESIF funding and in stimulating broader engagement. Learn more about the project and its partners here.
With support from:
