# CE2004078EN.01066001.xml

| 27.3.2004 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | CE 78/660 |
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27.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CE 78/660

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(2004/C 78 E/0703)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3853/03

by Joan Colom i Naval (PSE) to the Commission

(8 December 2003)

Subject:   Funding for Spain's ‘National Water Plan’

Subject:

Law No 10/2001 of 5 July 2001 introduced the ‘National Water Plan’ for Spain and the Spanish Government requested Community funding for carrying out the Plan.

Can the Commission say for which projects Community funding was requested? For which projects was it granted? What was the proportion of Community funding for the projects? For which projects was funding refused?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(22 January 2004)

(22 January 2004)

In accordance with the subsidiarity principle, it is the competence of the Member States to select the projects to be co-financed by the Cohesion Fund and the Structural Funds programmes.

As far as those projects to be co-financed by the Structural Funds, Member States are obliged to notify only those projects requesting community co-financing whose cost exceeds the EUR 50 million threshold laid down in Article 25 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 (1).

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Annex II of Spanish law 10/2001 on the National Hydrological Plan includes a listing of investments consisting of several hundreds of projects. The Spanish authorities have recently informed the Commission of the projects that will be proposed for Community financing by the Cohesion Fund and by the European Regional Development Fund.

As established in Article 14.3. ‘Information and publicity’ of Council Regulation (EC) No 1164/94 of 16 May 1994 establishing a Cohesion Fund (2), as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 1264/1999 of 21 June 1999 (3) and by Council Regulation (EC) No 1265/1999 of 21 June 1999 (3), the Commission publishes yearly in the Official Journal of the European Union the list of Decisions granting financial assistance under the above mentioned Regulation.

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The information related to Spanish projects was published in the following Official Journals:

| — | Year 2000: OJ C 361, 17.12.2001, p. 9; |
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Year 2000: OJ C 361, 17.12.2001, p. 9;

| — | Year 2001: OJ C 126, 28.5.2002, p. 3; |
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Year 2001: OJ C 126, 28.5.2002, p. 3;

| — | Year 2002: OJ C 123, 24.5.2003, p. 6. |
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Year 2002: OJ C 123, 24.5.2003, p. 6.

Projects for which financing has been requested under the Cohesion Fund but which are still being processed or that have been approved in 2003 are set out in Annex I to this response. A list of those large projects in the hydrological field, as defined by Article 25 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 on Structural Funds, that have been notified by the Member State are enclosed in Annex II.

These annexes are sent directly to the Honourable Member and to Parliament's Secretariat.

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(1)  Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 of 21 June 1999 laying down general provisions on the Structural Funds, OJ L 161, 26.6.1999.

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(2)  OJ L 130, 25.5.1994.

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(3)  OJ L 161, 26.6.1999.

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