WRITTEN QUESTION E-2544/99

by Samuli Pohjamo (ELDR) and Mikko Pesälä (ELDR) to the Commission

(4 January 2000)

Subject: Implementation of TACIS projects in disarray

The TACIS projects, launched with great expectations, have not necessarily been implemented as hoped, partly as a result of the EU's unwieldy bureaucracy. It is now proposed as an option that the EU should not grant any further TACIS funds to its neighbouring regions until the old programmes have been implemented. The implementation of the programmes is hampered by the fact that the opportunity to make direct investments is disproportionately small. Under the current regulation only 10 % of the funds allocated may be used for investment. Partly for this reason, many of the TACIS programmes already approved are still on ice. If the threat to halt the allocation of new resources was carried out, this would detract from the TACIS CBS programmes, which seek inter alia to improve border security and in particular eliminate development problems arising from the remote situation of border areas.

The most serious shortcoming of the CBS programmes is felt to be their separateness from the Interreg programme, which also seeks to alleviate the problems caused by border location and to increase cross-border cooperation. The TACIS funds, unlike the Interreg funds, are intended for the use of our Russian partners. However, the majority of the euros spent under TACIS have been channelled by Western planning and consultation agencies into their own pockets. Within the framework of TACIS more money should be spent on direct investment rather than on consultations.

1. What measures does the Commission propose to take to ensure that TACIS projects can continue uninterrupted and operate as smoothly as possible?

2. What measures has the Commission taken / is the Commission still taking to ensure the compatibility and coordination of the TACIS and Interreg programmes, which was already proposed at an earlier stage?

3. How does the Commission propose to improve the making of direct investments and reduce excessive consultations?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(1 February 2000)

The Commission would first of all assure the Honourable Members that it has no plans to suspend current TACIS projects or stop funding of new projects. This applies equally to the cross-border co-operation programme. On the contrary, the new Regulation(1), which has just entered into force, underlines the priority given by the Commission to the TACIS programme. The investment ceiling of 10 % in the old Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 1279/96 of 25 June 1996(2) has not had a negative impact on the implementation of the programmes. It is also important to recall that the Interreg and the cross-border co-operation programmes have different objectives and legal bases. This has a bearing on the co-ordination between the two programmes.

The answers to the three questions are:

1. There is no question of suspending the co-operation as a whole. Instead, the new Regulation marks a new start for the important co-operation between the Community and the partner states in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The new Regulation strongly emphasises regional and cross-border co-operation, with particular attention to enlargement. Measures are also foreseen to increase efficiency, by concentrating on fewer areas of activities and selecting fewer but larger actions.

2. Co-ordination between Interreg and TACIS is already taking place and will continue at the project level, both through the design of projects and by giving high priority to those projects which are supported by matching funds of the relevant programmes. This has proved successful in the context of the support for the Finnish/Russian border crossing points. Moreover synergy between the two programmes will be improved through increased co-ordination at the programming level, in the definition of objectives and areas of co-operation.

3. The main aim of the programme as set out in the new Regulation remains know-how transfer. However, up to 20 % of the budget may now be used for investment promotion subject to certain conditions. The Commission believes that this increased ceiling creates significant scope for more investment prospects.

(1) OJ L 12, 18.1.2000.

(2) OJ L 165, 4.7.1996.