13. In the event of any irregularity, negligence or fraud attributable to the national agency, or any serious shortcomings or underperformance on the part of the national agency, where this gives rise to claims by the Commission against the national agency, the national authority shall be liable to reimburse to the Commission the funds not recovered.

12. Welcomes the fact that the Romanian National Agency for Employment (ANOFM), the Cluj County Agency for Employment (AJOFM Cluj) as well as other local and regional authorities, trade unions and enterprises will be linked to the cooperative enterprise which will be established to support the workers targeted for assistance as part of the measure 'Assistance in initiating independent activities , and that a policy of equality of women and men as well as non-discrimination will be applied during the various stages of the implementation of and in access to the EGF;

5. Stresses EP's support to a Commission administrative reform and intends to control the output over Budget 2003 and ensure the respect of EP's opinions, in particular concerning the ongoing legislative process of the recasting of the Financial Regulation, the reduction of payments backlog especially for external programmes and other implementation bottlenecks such as commitology; insists that the Commission proposals be implemented by 31 December 2002; Will pay particular attention to the principles stated by the new methods of governance developed including the tendency for more externalisation of common policies ( national agencies, new dece ...[+++]ntralised agencies, de-concentration and decentralisation of the external delegations); wonders how the host of new agencies are to be financed; is willing therefore to evaluate the budgetary consequences resulting from possible staffing and structures duplication, in particular since enlargement will increase the geographical area of the common policies; expects meaningful explanations on this from the Commission;

37. Considers that, to avoid duplication, conflicts and misunderstandings between the Authority and national agencies, clear procedures and principles of cooperation with national agencies should be agreed, including when mandatory cooperation and information should be required; considers that extra support may need to be given to candidate countries;

Fourth, the objectives of the programmes: while in the previous programming period the bulk of the assistance concerned training, today the ESF has shifted to being an instrument to promote participation in the labour market through various mechanisms: training, counselling, enterprise creation, employment aids, support to public employment services, research and development, university courses, etc.

development and modernisation of the Public Employment Service to enable them to respond to the new challenges and to cover the full spectrum of the guidelines; improvement of the knowledge and skill levels reinforcing employability and adaptability with particular emphasis on apprenticeship and traineeship;