No C 225/4 Official Journal of the European Communities 10. 9. 90 
whether food or non-food — which have featured in the 
system since 1988. 
2.3. It notes that the Commission's present assumption 
is that Decision 89/45/EEC will be abrogated when the 
general product safety Directive finally comes into force. 
2.4. The Committee in the meantime recommends 
further expansion, extension, and acceleration of ap­
propriate, effective and fair means of recalling products. 
2.5. The Committee notes and in general approves the 
amended Decision in which changes are restricted to 
Article 7. The most important modifications here concern 
the extension of the system until abrogation, and the 
bringing into line of the Advisory Committee with the 
general procedures for Advisory Committees foreseen in 
Decision 87/373/EEC. 
3. Specific comments 
3.1. In the third recital, the Committee points to the 
reference to the continuation of the present system 'for an 
unlimited period'. It suggests that this phrase could more 
consistently be replaced by 'until such time as the product 
safety Directive comes into force'. 
1. Introduction 
1.1. The Committee takes note of the Commission 
report on ERDF activity in 1988, and observes that it must 
be assessed in a context of transition towards the new 
Structural Funds system. 3.2. Article 7 
The Committee questions why the reference to the 
provision by the Commission of a Secretariat has been 
dropped. 
It also recommends that the clause allowing Member States 
to be accompanied by up to two experts should be restored. 
3.3. Article 8 
The Committee approves the submission of a report on the 
operation of the system, and suggests wider publication 
than that in the Official Journal of the European 
Communities alone, with circulation to all relevant, 
interested organizations. It stresses that the obligation of 
producing a report at least every two years must be 
fulfilled. 
Done at Brussels, 4 July 1990. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Alberto MASPRONE 
1.2. The report comes within the general framework of 
completion of the internal market and achievement of 
economic and social cohesion (Article 130b of the Treaty), 
and the ERDF has a key part to play in improving regional 
balance (Article 130c). However, it was not possible for the 
report to expand on its usual coverage in order to give a 
more dynamic contribution to the reform process. Opinion on the European Regional Development Fund: 14th annual report (1988) from the 
Commission 
(90/C 225/03) 
On 23 May 1990 the Commission decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under 
Article 198 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, on the European 
Regional Development Fund: 14th annual report (1988) from the Commission. 
The Section for Regional Development and Town and Country Planning, which was responsible 
for preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 22 May 1990. The 
rapporteur was Mr Serra Caracciolo. 
At its 278th plenary session (meeting of 4 July 1990) the Economic and Social Committee adopted 
the following opinion. 
10. 9. 90 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 225/5 
2. General comments 3. Specific comments 
2.1. The ESC opinion on the reform of the Structural 
Funds (*) singled out four priority instruments of economic 
and social policy: PROGRAMMES 
(a) coordination (as yet incomplete) of Member States' 
economic policies; 
(b) a common regional policy aimed at redressing regional 
imbalances, with development of lagging regions and 
regions in industrial decline; 
(c) a European social area to guarantee higher-quality, 
more equitable development; 
(d) ongoing linkage between the completion of the internal 
market and progress towards cohesion. 3.1. The Committee would recall its opinions on 
Renaval, Resider, Star, Valoren, Envireg and Rechar, and, 
while naturally upholding the stance taken there, reaffirms 
the need for proper coordination between these Com­
munity initiatives and the common regional policy as a 
whole. 
3.2. The Committee endorses the Commission's view 
that the National Programmes of Community Interest 
(NPCI) should involve a set of consistent multilateral 
measures in tune with national policies and serving 
Community policy objectives. However, NPCIs have not in 
practice helped to speed up the process of convergence of 
national economies, nor to reduce regional disparities. 
2.2. The Committee considers that the Commission's 
review of 14 years of ERDF activity would have been 
strengthened by a fuller and more substantive consider­
ation of the results of fund management over the last four 
years. 3.3. Once again, the target figure of 30 % of ERDF 
funds over a three-year period for spending on productive 
investment in industry (Am. 1979 Regulation and Council 
Decision of 1983) has not been achieved. By way of 
example, Spain allocated 100 % of NPCI funding to 
infrastructure, Belgium 92 % and the UK 89,8 %. 
2.3. Although the Commission has mentioned (and 
indeed, highlighted) the need to increase links and synergies 
between the three Structural Funds, it does not seem to 
have pursued this goal fully in practice. 
2.4. Moreover, analysis of the main trends (investment 
flows, development of services, employment, etc.) confirms 
the continuing disparities between the Community's 
regions. 
It is worth recalling here the Court of Auditors' state­
ments (2) that: 
'1. As regards employment: 'In spite of some minor 
improvements, the Court's enquiries could not discover 
any significant improvement over the situations 
described in a previous special report.' (Special report 
contained in OJ No C 345, 31. 12. 1982); 
2. as regards the selection of industrial projects and the 
maximization of their impact: 'improving the selection 
criteria is not enough', and 'in terms of growth, the 
projects aided have had hardly any incentive effect on 
economic activity in the region.' 
(!) OJ No C 175, 4. 7. 1988. 
(2) OJ No C 312, 12. 12. 1989. 3.4. The Committee reiterates the request made in its 
opinion on the 13th report regarding the need to indicate 
the level of infrastructure provision for each region 
compared with the level of infrastructure projects financed 
by the ERDF. 
This information, which as a rule appears only in the 
periodic reports on the social and economic situation and 
development of the regions of the Community, would have 
provided a useful addition to the Commission's review of 
14 years of ERDF activity. 
3.5. The 10:1 ratio for ERDF commitments to the 
NPCIs and Community programmes respectively remains 
far from satisfactory. 
3.6. In the interests of clarity and transparency, the 
Committee would like to see an end to the combined use of 
different ERDF formulae. The Committee trusts that the 
Commission will respect its commitment to wind up the 
'specific Community measures' which began in 1980 by the 
end of this year. 
3.7. The integrated development operations represented 
a partial attempt to integrate and coordinate the various 
Community structural measures, and the Committee 
therefore regrets the obstacles which this first example of 
the programme approach came up against. 
No C 225/6 Official Journal of the European Communities 10. 9. 90 
PROJECTS 
3.8. The Committee stresses the need to revise the order 
of priorities. This is borne out by the analysis of the relation 
between spending on projects and programmes. 
In 1988, projects again retained absolute dominance. 
Moreover, 93 % of project spending went on infrastruc­
ture. The Committee therefore stresses the imperative need 
for Community initiatives to be aimed at direct support for 
economic and industrial activities. 
3.9. Turning to the Fund's effects on employment, the 
Committee feels that, in the absence of an ex-ante 
assessment and ex-post monitoring system, a proper 
consideration of the number of jobs created and main­
tained is impossible. 
INDIGENOUS POTENTIAL 
3.10. The Committee is concerned at the lack of 
attention paid to the development of the indigenous 
potential of the disadvantaged regions. 
It notes the increase in the sums allocated to this in 1988 
(50 % of the overall spending scheduled over the period 
1975 to 1988), but is adamant that this objective deserves 
greater priority. 
STUDIES 
3.11. The Committee supports the Commission's work 
in the studies field, and asks it to back this up with measures 
to disseminate any results which could provide a helpful 
example. 
MONITORING 
3.12. The Committee stresses that it is essential to 
establish procedures for monitoring and assessing pro­
grammes and their results by defining, in the most uniform 
and reliable way possible, concepts such as 'job created', 
'job maintained' and 'unemployment'. Widespread use 
should also be made of the partnership procedure at 
national, regional, and local levels with the economic and 
social groups concerned. 
3.13. The Committee regrets that the socio-economic 
organizations in certain Member States have been 
insufficiently involved in the planning and implementation 
of the measures financed by the Structural Funds. It 
therefore asks the Commission to include in future reports 
(whatever form they take) a mention of the level of 
participation of local and regional organizations and socio­
economic groups in the Member States. 4. Conclusions 
4.1. Again in 1988, progress from piecemeal project-
based measures to more effective programme-based 
assistance was far from satisfactory. However, the 
Committee is pleased to note the Commission's declaration 
of its intentions and the initial results achieved by the recent 
reform with the inversion of the intervention criteria. 
4.2. The problem of controls has still not been 
satisfactorily resolved. The attempt to introduce per­
manent assessment of the regional impact of other policies 
(both Community and national), with close linkage of ex-
ante and ex-post assessment, has not been properly 
followed up. 
4.3. The Committee strongly urges the Commission to 
overcome the delays which were still apparent in 1988, and 
to adopt timely controls to ensure that the partnership 
procedure and the principle of subsidiarity are applied 
effectively. 
4.4. With regard to cohesion and indigenous potential, 
the imbalances between the most and least developed 
regions are increasing to the clear benefit of the former, 
both within the Community as a whole and in the 
individual Member States. This is particularly evident in 
the case of unemployment (and, more especially, youth 
unemployment and long-term unemployment), which 
remains one of the most unsettling features of the overall 
economic picture. 
4.5. To sum up, there is no doubt that on at least four 
points of the 1984 reform — creation and development of 
indigenous potential, the relationship between program­
mes and projects, job creation, monitoring and publicity — 
the results for 1988 are again well below expectations and 
needs. In the light of the premises set out by the 
Commission, and of its review of 14 years of patchy and 
inadequate operation, the Committee trusts that ERDF 
measures will adopt a more quality-oriented approach in 
the future, in order to heighten their overall impact. Future 
annual reports on the European Regional Development 
Fund should, in the Committee's view, reflect this new 
approach in both their content and presentation. 
Done at Brussels, 4 July 1990. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Alberto MASPRONE