YMCA Valletta, an NGO that supports the homeless, yesterday described the EU as a “bureaucratic nightmare” in a reaction to the European Commission’s judicial letter that requests the refund of e17,498.67 in EU funds that had been granted to the NGO back in 2001 and 2002.

In a statement issued yesterday, a day after the Commission filed the judicial letter in the First Hall of the Civil Court, the YMCA said it had only been informed about the letter by journalists who called the organisation to follow up the story.

The Commission’s judicial letter stated that in 2001 YMCA Valletta had applied for two grants for two separate projects – “Violence & Under Privileged Young People” and “Supporting the Homeless”. The Commission had granted the YMCA e13,539 in February 2001 and e6,672 in January 2002.

One of the conditions that the Commission imposed in providing the grants, was the compilation of final reports regarding the two projects.

In 2003 and 2004, the Commission had requested clarifications about the final reports submitted by YMCA, but never received a reply, according to the judicial letter.

The NGO said yesterday that when the request for the grants had been made, the YMCA was a very small organisation operating mainly with volunteers and was relatively inexperienced in EU project funding availability, as were most Maltese at the time.

The statement said that back in 2001, EU programmes in Malta were a novelty and YMCA Valletta had been asked by the Maltese authorities to take part in these programmes through its volunteer base.

To this effect, YMCA Valletta volunteers had formulated project proposals for European volunteers to come to Malta and participate in the YMCA’s social programmes.

Most of the programmes went smoothly, but volunteers faced with great challenges in the aftermath of the 11 September terrorist attacks in New York, said the YMCA, adding that several people were understandably frightened to go abroad.

The NGO said that while the programmes were still undertaken, some changes and adaptations had to be carried out due to the terrorist attacks.

After the projects were completed, YMCA volunteers wrote and sent the relevant documentation back to the EU.

“The bureaucratic machine of the EU weighed heavily on the operations of YMCA,” said the statement.

To mention just one example, the initial reports sent by registered mail were lost or misplaced and the second set of reports had not been accepted, because duplicate copies had not been sent, said YMCA.

The organisation added that it then tried getting in touch with the relevant officials both locally and abroad; not much progress was made and the YMCA had then offered the EU to officially audit the projects.

“We had formally authorised the EU to carry out the audit in a fax sent on 27 September 2005. This was a clear example that we had nothing to hide and were consistent in our openness and transparency.

“Although we were told the EU would get in touch with us regarding the audit, this never materialised,” said YMCA’s statement.

It went on to say that the organisation received a communication last July, saying the European Commission had come to the final decision that it was due the refund from the YMCA.

“Due to our inexperience, we wrote back to ask why this had happened, when the projects were carried out and were considered a success even though the 11 September terrorist attacks had presented quite a few challenges.

“We were told we had to pay up for something that we did not agree to. We then met EU officials in Malta to highlight the matter, but were told that when the EU takes a decision there was little one could do.”

YMCA said it was unfortunate that an institution like the EU threw all its weight on small NGOs like the YMCA and young people who were trying to make a difference in society. “One can safely describe this problem as a bureaucratic nightmare.”

The NGO added that the Commission’s request to pay e17498.67 in a week, poses a very big problem for YMCA Valletta.

The YMCA already struggles to carry on helping over 70 social cases and homeless women and children every day with limited financial resources, said the statement.

It went on to thank all those who offered assistance to YMCA, including the Maltese authorities, as well as MEP Joseph Muscat who offered to follow up the matter in Brussels.