COMMISSION OPINION of 23 May 1979 on the regional development programmes (79/534/EEC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 155 thereof,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 724/75 of 18 March 1975 establishing a European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (1), as amended by Regulation (EEC) No 214/79 (2), and in particular Article 6 thereof,

Having regard to the regional development programmes notified to it by the Member States pursuant to the aforesaid Article 6,

Having regard to the opinion of the Regional Policy Committee of 16 June and 26 October 1978 on these programmes,

Whereas, although indicative in nature, the common outline drawn up by the Regional Policy Committee (3) specifies what information these programmes must contain under the five chapters "economic and social analysis", "development objectives", "measures for development", "financial resources" and "implementation";

Whereas, as a result of the examination of regional development programmes carried out in close association with the national authorities and within the Regional Policy Committee, a number of Member States have, at the Commission's request, either completed their programmes or provided important additional information,

HEREBY DELIVERS THE FOLLOWING OPINION:

1. Economic and social analysis

This chapter is in general the most comprehensive. All the programmes reveal the main aspects of economic and social development in the regions, the principal imbalances besetting the regions and the effects of past measures. However, the Member States do not set out their analyses in the same way. In quite a number of cases, development possibilities and conditions, including bottlenecks, are dealt with only briefly.

Although the analyses in general make reference to the national economic context, the economic environment at Community level is inadequately taken into account. In most cases, the regional impact of the Community's common agricultural policy and of its policy of external relations, including enlargement, is discussed only briefly.

Where the frontier regions are concerned, the analysis should pay closer attention to their special situations, notably in relation to the region or regions on the other side of the frontier.

In some cases, the economic and social analysis contains data for an entire region, although only a geographically limited area of that region receives national regional aid, without any explanation of why that area should be eligible for assistance. (1)OJ No L 73, 21.3.1975, p. 1. (2)OJ No L 35, 9.2.1979, p. 1. (3)OJ No C 69, 24.3.1976, p. 2.

2. Development objectives

The various programmes contain a range of objectives, broader in some Member States than in others depending on how they view regional policy. Setting quantified objectives for each region presents various difficulties.

One example is job creation : some Member States quantify this objective over a given period, others forecast the individual region's job deficits for a given year (e.g. 1980) and still others merely provide overall forecasts for a group of regions or forecasts confined to the supply of labour. To cope with the technical difficulties encountered in this field, the Commission will accord priority to the study on the preparation of regional labour balance sheets as well as to the progressive establishment of a Community basis for them.

The information supplied on regional infrastructure planning is relatively detailed in virtually all cases. However, national infrastructure of real importance for regional development is not always covered. Not all Member States have as yet established multiannual programming of infrastructure investments.

Most of the programmes discuss, either explicitly or implicitly, the effects sought on the different economic activities of a region but not, as indicated in the common outline, those on income.

3. Measures for development

In this chapter, the programmes examine, often in detail, direct regional policy measures such as regional aid schemes and, in more general terms, the major infrastructure investments undertaken for regional development purposes.

By contrast, they do not in general say much about the measures taken under other national or Community policies which have indirect but important repercussions on the development of the regions, such as industrial, agricultural and social policy (including vocational training), environmental measures, physical planning and the provision of social amenities in the regions. The infrastructure budgets are not, as a rule, broken down by region.

Drawing on the results of the studies on regional impact assessment (RIA), the Commission itself will look more closely into the regional effects of Community policies, including its agricultural and commercial policies.

4. Financial resources

The programmes provide more or less detailed figures for the sums governments will devote to regional development in the years ahead but fail to give a sufficiently clear indication of priorities.

In general they make no mention of financial transfers between different levels of government, of finance from regional or subregional sources, of assistance provided under sectoral policies having a regional impact, or of investment to be made during the programme period in the context of planning agreements by public enterprises or by major private undertakings. What is more, they do not normally provide sufficiently detailed information on the way Member States intend in future to use resources made available by the ERDF or by the Community's other financial instruments.

5. Implementation

Overall, the programmes notified contain detailed information on the agencies or institutions responsible for implementing regional policy in Member States. However, only a few countries provide an implementation schedule.

By way of conclusion, the Commission believes that the regional development programmes enable it to make a better assessment of investment projects which are to receive ERDF assistance, although these programmes need to be developed further if they are to be regarded as a sufficiently detailed reference framework for assessing such projects. The present opinion of the Commission on the regional development programmes does not prejudice the application of Articles 92 to 94 of the EEC Treaty.

Done at Brussels, 23 May 1979.

For the Commission

Antonio GIOLITTI

Member of the Commission