WRITTEN QUESTION P-2002/96 by Edouard des Places (EDN) to the Commission (12 July 1996)

Subject: Implementation of the LEADER II programme

The implementation of the LEADER II programme (1994-1999) is causing a number of difficulties.

In the case of France, there has been a considerable delay in implementation, since the Commission has only just approved the latest regional programmes.

The quality of the partnership in preparations for the programmes has given rise to protests by socio-economic actors who have been left out. These protests have been brought to the Commission's attention.

The constitution of local action groups in France is causing problems, since the Member State blatantly favours regional and local authorities and in most cases rejects any idea of 'thematic groups'.

An examination of the action programmes by local action groups has shown flagrant departures from the general principles clearly laid down in the Commission communication of 1 July 1994, which was approved by the Council of Ministers.

When granting funds, does the Commission expect to concern itself solely with the strict monitoring of legality or does it plan to look at appropriateness, so that implementation of the subsidiarity principle does not result in an obvious distortion of the LEADER II programme, making it no more than the 'non-material' facet of Objective 5b?

Does the Commission intend to check whether the GAL programmes are genuinely innovative? Can it be sure that a reasonable share of the funding goes, for example, to international cooperation projects?

Does it plan to check whether the action programmes meet the three characteristics of the options selected: innovation, administrative support and transferability?

If the procedure applied by the regional authorities is not in accordance with the Directive, what steps does the Commission plan to take?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (1 August 1996)

Community funding is distributed among local action groups by the regional authorities responsible for the implementation of the Leader II programme. In France, the government has assigned this responsibility to the préfets de région (regional prefects). Local action groups are selected on the basis of rural innovation programmes submitted in response to a regional call for proposals.

The groups are selected by technical committees made up of the representatives of the main public cofinancing bodies, including the State, the region, the department and, where appropriate, trade associations. In line with the principle of subsidiarity, the Commission, which negotiated the content of the regional programmes with the national and regional authorities, does not intervene in the selection of local groups.

The Commission has ascertained that a significant part of the funds allocated to the regional programmes is set aside for the transnational cooperation projects that will gradually emerge, as specified in the communication to the Member States.

The Commission will check projects in every region for compliance with the communication, and also monitor the implementation of the Leader II initiative, through the committees responsible for monitoring Community interventions under Objectives 1 and 5b.

The elements monitored will include the innovation, demonstration and transferability of the projects proposed by local action groups.