WRITTEN QUESTION E-2546/99

by Guido Podestà (PPE-DE) to the Council

(22 December 1999)

Subject: Former frontier cities

Protracted piecemeal research involving many officials from different Directorates-General of the Commission has revealed a total absence of any study by the European Union institutions concerning all those

territorial and economic constructs which, as part of the process of creating the single internal market and, to an even greater extent, with the entry into force of the Schengen Agreement, have seen the basis of their own socio-economic organisation disappear, namely frontiers.

While we are all undoubtedly in favour of the birth of an ever closer European Union, we have an absolute duty to meet the needs of all of Europe's citizens. When the Schengen Agreement entered into force, the only Community measure provided for a specific mobility scheme for customs officials, but nothing was done for all those who had some kind of dependent activity associated with the existence of frontiers.

Does the Council not consider it necessary and a matter of urgency to carry out a detailed analysis of the needs of these specific areas of the European Union?

Does it not consider it opportune to provide specific logistical and financial support for those who, for a brief period, are being penalised by the single market?

Reply

(14 February 2000)

1. The Council is aware of the problems relating to the Union's frontier areas and considers, as the Honourable Member has pointed out, that the specific needs of these areas must be considered.

2. To date, 10 Member States of the Union have dispensed with checks on persons at internal frontiers in the context of implementation of the Schengen acquis.

Although this measure has made freedom of movement of persons possible, it has not, however, led to the departure of the competent authorities from frontier areas. Indeed, the arrangements put in place by the States participating in Schengen cooperation provide for intensifying police and judicial cooperation. Articles 39 et seq. of the Schengen Convention lay the foundations for police cooperation and call upon the States to conclude more detailed present or future bilateral agreements between Contracting Parties with a common border. This cooperation already provides for arrangements for pursuit and surveillance, as well as the intensification of exchanges of communications, in particular by means of the secondment of liaison officers.

The arrangements in frontier areas have taken various forms, including the forms of common border posts or police and customs cooperation centres. Important tasks are carried out at them, such as gathering and exchanging information, cooperating for the purpose of expelling aliens in illegal situations, proceeding with the readmission of asylum applicants, etc.

3. In addition, in its recent draft communication on Interreg, the Commission stresses that frontier areas have often been overlooked in the context of national policies, which has given them a peripheral nature in economic terms within the national territory.

Although this situation has improved with the single market and EMU, further efforts still have to be made to increase cooperation to the mutual benefit of the frontier areas.

4. The European Union contributes financially, as part of the Interreg Community initiative, to promoting common approaches with regard to the development of SMEs, education, training and cultural exchanges, health problems in the frontier regions, protection and improvement of the environment, energy, transport and telecommunications networks, and for joint management systems and transfrontier and transnational bodies.

5. During the 1994-1999 programming period, Interreg devoted 2 600 million to its heading Transfrontier cooperation.

Section A of the new phase of Interreg (2000-2006 period) will also cover transfrontier cooperation between adjoining territorial communities in order to develop transfrontier economic and social focal points from common strategies for lasting territorial development.

The ERDF's total contribution to Interreg for the period 2000-2006 is set at 4 875 million. The maximum contribution is set at 75 % of the total cost of projects and programmes in Objective 1 regions and at 50 % elsewhere. In addition, Member States will have to ensure that between 50 and 80 % of their total Interreg budget is allocated to transfrontier cooperation.

With regard to logistical and financial support for frontier areas, the Council would draw the Honourable Member's attention to the measures taken in the context of the structural funds, and more particularly in the context of the Community Interreg initiative relating to the development of frontier areas. When internal frontiers were abolished, very considerable use was made of the financial possibilities offered by this structural policy instrument.