EU funds could sponsor Italian football team
VALENTINA POP
24.09.2008 @ 17:45 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission confirmed on Wednesday (24 September) that the Italian region of Calabria has earmarked EU funds worth €1.8 million for sponsoring the national football team, as part of a tourism promotion plan.
"It is correct that Calabria is proposing to sponsor the national Italian football team in the run-up to the next World Cup. It does that as part of its tourism promotion. The European Commission has however asked Calabria for certain clarifications about this particular investment," commission spokesman Dennis Abbott said during a press conference.
The money was meant to aid the poor, Italian MEP Donnici says (Photo: European Parliament)
Mr Abbott told EUobserver that the amount at stake - €1.8 million, earmarked to sponsor the national team in 2008-2010 - is part of the Calabrian regional government's €6 million budget allocated for tourism promotion, of which €3 million is EU regional fund cash.
The commission has requested more information from the Calabrian government by 29 September, while stressing that another proposal -to pay €500,000 to a footballer's charity - is "clearly ineligible." The charity in question belongs to Gennaro "Rino" Gattuso, who plays for the AC Milan football club and is of Calabrian origin.
Yet the region might get away with the football team sponsoring scheme, as EU legislation seems unclear on the issue.
"So far, nobody has said to us it is not allowable. It is a way to promote tourism and the potential of Calabria. Maybe they have been smart here and tapped into the Italian mindset and this will be money exceptionally well spent," said Mr Abbott, while stressing that the final decision lies with the Court of Auditors.
"Let's not jump to the conclusion that they will get a red card. The referee in the form of the Court of Auditors might actually say 'well played'."
The question of the EU funds at stake was raised by the Italian Liberal MEP Beniamino Donnici, a former tourism minister in the Calabrian government, who has asked the European Commission to investigate why funding meant to help the poor has been diverted to one of the world's most successful and wealthy football federations.
"This is madness on a scale worthy of the Guinness Book of Records," he told The Telegraph. "Why is this public money being spent on the world champion football team and not on Calabria?"
Calabria is one of southern Italy's poorest regions and also home to the N'drangheta, one of the most powerful and violent organised crime organisations on the peninsula, which has been accused of siphoning off EU regional funding, The Telegraph writes.
