WRITTEN QUESTION E-0408/96 by Bill Miller (PSE) to the Commission (22 February 1996)

Subject: The Fourth Framework RTD

The advanced technology projects of European cities and regions in the Third Framework programme for Research and Technological Development have proved that only testing and assessment under real-life conditions can guarantee the commercial exploitation of systems developed by industry and safeguard the appropriate implementation of technologies on a wider scale. Moreover, the more transnational cooperation that is fostered between cities and regions, the more a harmonization and standardization of applications will come about to the extent where the telematics systems used will be the most cost-effective and coherent possible. It is also at the local level that citizens can tangibly feel the results of European Union initiatives and where the basis of broad public acceptance of new techniques can be laid. Cities and regions must hence make the changes required to realize a truly global 'information society'.

However, I understand that the unexpectedly high response rate to the first call of the Telematics Applications Programme has resulted in a widespread allocation of funds to a long list of projects and consequently a 60-70% reduction on average in the proposed budgets for many projects which have been successful, including those of local and regional authorities. Moreover, in the end city/regional projects account for only a sixth of the entire road transport telematics budget, for example, despite the 'user' orientation of the programme. Meaningful demonstration projects have also become impossible to realize although cities and regions are at a stage where they can and must operate large-scale demonstrations if they are to progress.

In this context, how does the Commission see the impact of urban/regional pilot projects on the creation of the 'information society'?

Answer given by Mr Bangemann on behalf of the Commission (15 April 1996)

The Telematics applications programme within the fourth Framework programme has been particularly successful in 1995 in its first and second calls. The programme in general received twelve times more applications than there was money available, but there were 21 times more applications than money in the urban and rural areas sector.

At least 23 projects out of 35 in this sector are based on a strong involvement of urban and regional authorities. These projects cover various situations such as small towns in the Metasa project, regions in partnerships in the Teleregions project, or rural areas like in the Tierras or Teleinsula projects. However, the impact of the reduced funding from the Community has been reduced by the maximization of the transeuropean dimension, leaving the local sources of funding to play the major role in line with the subsidiarity principle. With Community funding of some 5.6 MECU, no less than 24 towns and cities were involved in just 3 Telecities projects (Dall, Equality, Infosond).

In the transport sector which represents the largest share (almost 30%) of the Telematics applications programme, most projects (more than 80% of the projects of the road traffic subsector) involve the urban or regional authorities. Building on the experience of the Drive programme, the cities and road corridors projects are now in a position to contribute to global information society.

The detailed list of projects involving cities and regions is sent direct to the Honourable Member and to the Parliament's Secretariat.

One of the priority areas for pilot actions under Article 10 of the European regional development fund (ERDF) Regulation ((Council Regulation (EEC) N° 4254/88, as modified - OJ L 193, 31.7.1993. )) and Article 6 of the European social fund (ESF) Regulation ((Council Regulation (EEC) N° 4255/88, as modified - OJ L 193, 31.7.1993. )) for the 1994-1999 period is the translation of the information society concept into real life in the regions. The aim of this pilot scheme is to help integrate the information society concept into the regional development and employment policies of less favoured regions. 20 MECU will be devoted to this pilot scheme, of which 15 MECU will be allocated from the ERDF and 5 MECU from the ESF.