WRITTEN QUESTION E-0011/02

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(17 January 2002)

Subject: Discovery of the roundabout financial means used to attract a business to the economically and geographically disadvantaged Netherlands province of Friesland

1. Does the Commission recall that in its answer of 3 September 2001 to my question No E-1473/01(1) it said, inter alia, that a certain case of confidentiality in the Netherlands province of Friesland could involve the European Social Fund (ESF) and that the matter had been referred to the relevant department, the Directorate-General for Employment and Social Affairs, so that it could carry out the necessary checks?

2. Has it since become aware that the abovementioned case seems to have no link to the ESF, but to an attempt made at the end of 1997 by the government of the province of Friesland to bring into the Megapark business park in Heerenveen, with the help of considerable government support and a low land price, the American company Space Crafts Incorporated (SCI), which is known for its low wages and hard corporate culture and which, following the collapse of the space industry, assembles computer equipment for, among others, Hewlett Packard?

3. Did the Commission know that as early as February 1999 a public debate took place in the Friesland provincial assembly concerning the confidentiality surrounding the roundabout financing of the founding of the company referred to in point 2, whereby the province set up an acquisition fund in late 1998, under which the Noordelijke Ontwkkelings Maatschappij (Northern Development Company), which is not subject to the Netherlands Open Government Law (Wet Openbaarheid van Bestuur), was to receive the sum of approximately EUR 3 million to provide temporary accommodation for the company? If so, what did the Commission do with this information?

4. Did the province of Friesland, following the submission of a question by the Commission to the Netherlands in spring 1999, deny that money from the acquisition fund had been promised to SCI, and did it have to be left to a member of the provincial assembly, in an effort to ensure ethical government, to inform the Commission of this state of affairs on 1 June 1999, in order to be able to forward the decision to the Netherlands Government (reference number SG(2001) D/286182) in which the Commission ruled that too much had been paid in subsidies and that this should be reimbursed?

5. What ways are open to the northern Netherlands provinces of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe, which for decades have been able to compensate to some extent for their unfavourable economic and geographical situation vis-à-vis the densely populated west of the Netherlands by means of State subsidies to help attract businesses with favourable conditions, to maintain their population levels and protect employment opportunities without resorting to concealing information and circulating disinformation?

(1) OJ C 81 E, 4.4.2002, p. 28.

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(4 March 2002)

1. and 2. The Commission refers the Honourable Member to the answer it gave to his written question E-0010/02(1).

3. The information to which this question refers was known to the Commission partly before, partly after initiating the procedure of Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty. The Commission has requested detailed information and based its decision on the information that was received from the Dutch authorities.

4. The information provided by the Member of the provincial parliament has helped the Commission to ask precise information on aspects of the case on which the Dutch authorities had initially not given full information. It appeared that the Dutch authorities did not consider a number of measures as State aid in the meaning of Article 87.1 of the EC Treaty. In the final decision the Commission partly came to an opposite conclusion.

5. Almost the whole of the three northernmost provinces forms part of the Dutch regional aid map, which defines the regions that are eligible for regional aid under Article 87(3)(c) of the EC Treaty. In these regions the Dutch authorities may grant regional aid (e.g. on the basis of the Investeringspremieregeling-scheme), but also the level of aid for training, Research and Technological Development (R & D) and environment can be higher than the level that can be allowed in other, more prosperous regions in the Netherlands. More information can be found on the Commission's website(2).

(1) OJ C 301 E, 5.12.2002, p. 21.

(2) http://europa.eu.int/comm/competition/index_en.html.