WRITTEN QUESTION E-3001/01

by Christos Folias (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(29 October 2001)

Subject: CSF and operational programmes for Greece

Of the projects jointly financed from the Structural Funds under the CSF and the Community initiatives for Greece for the period 1994-1999, most of the operational programmes should have completed their payment schedule by 31 December 2001.

1. What is Greece's position relative to the other Objective 1 Member States in terms of take-up from the Community budget to date?

2. What is the total amount of appropriations disbursed to date for Greece per structural fund and operational programme under the CSF and Community initiatives for 1994-1999?

3. What is the exact balance (per structural fund and operational programme under the CSF and Community initiatives for 1994-1999) to be disbursed for Greece from 2001 to 2003?

4. Is the sum of the answers to questions 2 and 3 equal to the total amount of Community appropriations approved for Greece (at current prices)? If not, for which operational programmes and from which structural funds have Community appropriations already been released and what is the amount of those appropriations?

5. Can the Commission confirm the Greek Government's view that not a single euro will be lost from the operational programmes under the CSF and Community initiatives?

6. If not, does the Commission have data from which it can calculate the total amount of Community appropriations which the Member States, and Greece in particular, may have lost?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(28 February 2002)

1. For all Funds and over the whole of the period, payments to Greece under Objective 1 for the 1994-1999 programming period totalled 91,9 % of the amounts decided by 15 January 2002.

At that date, payments to the other Member States averaged 92,45 % of the amounts decided, taking all Funds and all financial years together.

2. At 15 January 2002, total appropriations for that period paid to Greece under the four Structural Funds and the Community Initiatives (CI) amounted to 13,6 billion(1).

This was broken down as follows:

- European Regional Development Fund: 9 229 billion;

- European Social Fund: 2 315 billion;

- European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund: 1 902 billion;

- Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance: 0 128 billion.

The Commission is sending the Honourable Member and the Secretariat-General of Parliament a detailed table giving information for each operational programme (OP).

3. That table also shows the exact amount which will be paid out to Greece in 2002 and 2003, by Structural Fund, OP and CI.

4. The amounts already received by Greece correspond to the Community appropriations approved.

5. and 6. The date of eligibility of expenditure incurred for the projects under the Community support framework for Greece for 1994-1999 was 31 December 2001 and the Member States were required to make final applications for payment and provide related documents for approval by 30 June 2002. At this stage, the Commission is therefore unable to state whether Greece will lose any appropriations for that period.

(1) These are the figures given by the Commission's Sincom accounting tool. They do not include Interreg initiatives and other payments made in Greece on the initiative of the Commission (technical assistance, etc.).