WRITTEN QUESTION E-0937/00

by Bernard Poignant (PSE) to the Commission

(29 March 2000)

Subject: Individual procedures followed by Member States with regard to the allocation of ERDF funds

EU Member States that wish to obtain cofinancing under the Structural Funds are required to consult the competent local authorities and then submit applications to the Commission.

The applications must meet certain criteria laid down in regional single programming documents (SPDs) which are subsequently approved by the Commission.

In following such a procedure, the Commission places emphasis on the principles of coordination and partnership, which are a cornerstone of Community regional policy.

A key factor in the recognition of the role played by the European Union in regional development is the transparent management of funds. This transparency is reflected by the annual publication of the report on the Structural Funds, the drawing up of a balance sheet for each Objective and the regular publication of the Inforegio newsletter.

However, ignorance of the internal fund-distribution and fund-management procedures instituted by the Member States could make it difficult to acquire an overall picture of EU regional policy.

The time has come for the EU to publish a document identifying internal procedures for the defining of eligible areas and for the management and allocation of EU Structural Fund resources.

Could a document of this kind be made available to Members of the European Parliament, since it is essential in order to become acquainted with, and to compare, the procedures favoured by each Member State, and consequently to increase public awareness of the advantages of the Structural Funds?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(22 May 2000)

The Structural Funds annual report for 1999 will state how the Commission divided among Member States the appropriations allocated to the various Structural Fund Objectives for the period 2000 to 2006 in accordance with Article 7 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 of 21 June 1999 laying down general provisions on the Structural Funds(1).

In addition, a Commission statement concerning Article 7 of the general Regulation on the Structural Funds was annexed to the minutes of the Council meeting on general affairs at which the Regulation was adopted following Parliament's assent. The text of that statement is being sent direct to the Honourable Member and to Parliament's Secretariat.

Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 does not empower the Commission to divide appropriations among the regions or areas covered by Objective 1 or Objective 2 within the same Member State. Nevertheless, for guidance the Commission sent to all Member States proposals for dividing the Objectives' appropriations among the regions or areas concerned. Those proposals are based on the methods used by the Commission to divide each of the two Objectives' appropriations among Member States.

On 1 July 1999 the Commission decided which regions would be eligible under Objective 1 during the 2000 to 2006 programming period(2).

With regard to Objective 2, on 1 July 1999 the Commission set an eligible population ceiling for each Member State concerned(3). The ceilings were determined in accordance with the procedures described in the Commission statement annexed to the Council minutes and referred to above.

Each Member State was then invited to propose to the Commission a list of eligible areas satisfying the following conditions: the population of the areas presented for eligibility had not to exceed the population ceiling which the Commission had established for the Member State concerned; the areas proposed had to satisfy the eligibility criteria set out in one of the paragraphs 5 to 9 of Article 4 of the Regulation laying down general provisions on the Structural Funds; where objectively possible, areas satisfying the Community eligibility criteria had to represent at least 50 % of the Member State's total population eligible for Objective 2.

The Regulation laying down general provisions on the Structural Funds stipulates two categories of eligibility criteria for Objective 2. The so-called Community criteria set out in Article 4(5) and (6) relate to data available at Eurostat. The same statistical series were used for all the Member States, in order to ensure identical treatment. On 23 June 1999 the data in question were sent to all the Member States concerned by Objective 2. The Commission is sending those data, for information, direct to the Honourable Member and to Parliament's Secretariat. The so-called national criteria set out in Article 4(7) to (9) concern statistical data specific to each Member State.

In order to have a format common to all the Member States, the Commission drew up standard tables for presenting Objective 2 zoning proposals. All the Member States concerned used those tables, which enabled the Commission to verify inter alia to what extent the areas proposed were in fact the most severely affected. The Commission is sending a copy of the tables direct to the Honourable Member and to Parliament's Secretariat.

(1) OJ L 161, 26.6.1999.

(2) Commission Decision 1999/502/EC of 1 July 1999 drawing up the list of regions covered by Objective 1 of the Structural Funds for the period 2000 to 2006 (OJ L 194, 27.7.1999).

(3) Commission Decision 1999/503/EC of 1 July 1999 establishing a population ceiling for each Member State under Objective 2 of the Structural Funds for the period 2000 to 2006 (OJ L 194, 27.7.1999).