Commission’s answer: a) In 2014, € 8.865.700 was disbursed following the assessment of the 4th interim payment claim of the 2007-EU-06010-P Action.Detailed data on TEN-T and CEF disbursements by year are presented in the table below (in EUR):
Year |
2005-EU-603A |
2007-EU-06010 |
2014-EU-TM-0401-M |
Total |
2005
|
24.000.000,00
|
–
|
–
|
24.000.000,00
|
2006
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
2007
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
2008
|
–
|
16.050.000,00
|
–
|
16.050.000,00
|
2009
|
22.419.363,54
|
19.445.000,00
|
–
|
41.864.363,54
|
2010
|
–
|
47.132.936,44
|
–
|
47.132.936,44
|
2011
|
–
|
20.075.302,45
|
–
|
20.075.302,45
|
2012
|
–
|
9.998.035,94
|
–
|
9.998.035,94
|
2013
|
–
|
137.287.378,17
|
–
|
137.287.378,17
|
2014
|
–
|
8.865.700,00
|
–
|
8.865.700,00
|
2015
|
–
|
2.845.462,50
|
36.432.000,00
|
39.277.462,50
|
|
46.419.363,54
|
261.699.815,50
|
36.432.000,00
|
344.551.179,04
|
b) The Commission applies two systems of expenditure control:
- “Ex-ante control” on each submitted payment claim. They are performed by the Finance and Operational Units of INEA, based on the analysis of technical and financial reports and a sampling methodology aiming at providing a reasonable assurance that the accepted costs comply with the definition of eligible costs as per the Decision.
- “Ex-post control”, i.e. after a payment is made. They are performed by the External Audit function of the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA). For the Lyon-Turin two audits were performed in July 2011 and March 2013. In May 2015 the European Court of Auditors performed an audit as well, with no findings yet.
c) Activities funded so far include studies (preliminary and final design studies; geological investigation; environmental studies) and land acquisition.
d) Yes, the Member States’ certification is a compulsory document when submitting a payment claim to INEA. Based on internal audit, external audit or any other form of verification, they certify that:
· Requests for payment are complete, reliable and true;
· Claimed costs are eligible and duly substantiated;
· Used accounting rules comply with legislation in force;
· Obligations to pay taxes and social security contribution are respected;
· Activities do not benefit from any other Community funding.
e) This request must be assessed under the provisions of Regulation 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents. Article 4(5) of this Regulation provides that a Member State may request the institutions not to disclose a document originating from that Member State without its prior agreement. Therefore, the Commission cannot disclose the application sent by France without its agreement.
f) The Commission can’t provide such document without the agreement of Member States. Some of the documents are part of the application sent by the beneficiaries. As explained in the previous point, these are document originated by Member States and therefore, according to Regulation 1049/2001, we need the agreement of the Member State to disclose it.
g) A railway motorway service is being used since 2003 on the existing line and provides a commercial service between Aiton-Bourgneuf in Savoie and Orbassano, on the outskirts of Turin. The use of lowered wagons enables the transport of entire trailers or trucks up to a height of 4 metres, notably because of the limits of size of the historic line. The aim with this first railway motorway through the Northern Alps is to transport, ultimately, 100 000 trucks per year. The construction of the Lyon-Turin line will allow the implementation of a high capacity rail motorway on the model of Eurotunnel, able to embark rapidly over 700 000 lorries per year on shuttle trains (all types of heavy vehicles up to 4,20 metres in height). Taking into account other freight traffic (freight trains and conventional trains of containers), the capacity of the new link will represent 40 MT/year, i.e. the equivalent of 3 million trucks.
h) Commission ex-ante and ex-post controls are in place to ensure regularity of the spending and have confirmed that the contracting authority requires the compulsory submission of anti-mafia certificates covering key executives of the tendering parties in the tendering process for contract opportunities published according to LFT procurement rules, and which are to be delivered in Italian territory -both as matter of procurement policy and in practice for the contracts tested.
i) Although the title of activity 1.5 did not change, the technical description of the activities was substantially extended. A study, finalised in 2011, after the adoption of the C2008-7733 underlined the need to make more thorough investigations as regards geological, hydrogeological and geo-mechanic conditions in the Houiller rock massif, where the future excavation of the base tunnel will cross the weakest ground conditions. This is why the scope of activity 1.5 was extended. As a matter of fact, while Decision C2008-7733 was referring to 300 meters, Decision C2013-1376 referred to 3 kilometers.
In large civil construction projects, information about rock properties is gathered before the full excavations begin to: i) evaluate the technical feasibility of future works, through the identification of any geological and environmental problem linked to the use of tunnel boring machine (TBM); ii) plan appropriate technical solutions for a timely and cost-effective implementing plan of future works; iii) prepare tender of the future works (define terms of reference and decide the most appropriate financial package).
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