WRITTEN QUESTION E-1398/00

by Elisabeth Schroedter (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(4 May 2000)

Subject: Written Question E-1510/99 of 1 September 1999: Excessive use of European Structural Fund resources for road construction in the five new Länder and East Berlin (Objective 1 area of the Federal Republic of Germany)

The Commission has still not answered the above written question. In an interim reply of 7 October 1999(1), it undertook to provide an answer once the regional plan had been submitted. The regional plan was submitted to it at the end of 1999, but no answer has yet been received. The question is therefore set out once more below:

The Federal German government has decided that the substantial sum of DEM 3,4 billion of ERDF resources is to be spent on basic infrastructure from the Structural Funds for the new Länder, two thirds of this amount being earmarked for long-distance road transport and only one third for rail transport. This is inconsistent with the following principles adopted for the Structural Funds and considered essential by the European Parliament:

- the goal of harmoniously balanced and sustainable development;

- the goal of increasing employment;

- the goal of protecting an improving the environment;

- the required balance among the various means of transport;

- the required consideration of local transport systems, and especially citizens' networks;

- the required change to sustainable forms of transport to ensure compliance with the pledge to the Community to reduce propellant gas emissions;

- the partnership principle, which involves the local and regional authorities and the social and environmental partners in the decision-making on programming;

- the principle of additionality, whereby the Structural Funds must not be misused to plug holes in national budgets.

1. Does the Commission believe that a development plan with these emerging shortcomings can be approved for the Objective 1 area in Germany?

2. If not, what delays can be expected in overall planning in the Objective 1 area?

3. What does the Commission think of the substantial proportion of new basic infrastructure building projects when the interim evaluation for the Land of Brandenburg refers to quantitatively satisfactory provision of roads and railway lines and, in contrast to this, a sharp decline in employment?

4. How does the Commission rate compliance with the European principles when ERDF resources are used for road construction projects that entail massive interference in a natural environment that is worth protecting and for projects to which the population concerned is strongly opposed?

5. What practical steps will the Commission be taking to ensure that the Federal Government complies with the principles governing the Structural Fund regulation?'

(1) OJ C 170 E, 20.6.2000, p. 27.

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(13 June 2000)

The Community support framework (CSF) for Objective 1 regions in Germany, which will be approved by the Commission shortly, states that for transport infrastructure special attention will be paid to efficiency, balance between different modes of transport, sustainability and accessibility.

The share of the structural funds allocated to priority 2 Infrastructure in Brandenburg (24 %) is in line with the other Länders' allocations to infrastructure, which range from 16 % to 33 %. Moreover, priority 2 deals not only with transport infrastructure, but also with economic infrastructure (e.g. industrial estates), research and development (R&D) infrastructure, training infrastructure and urban or local infrastructures. Support for transport infrastructure in Brandenburg will be focused on improving quality, instead of building new transport infrastructure, and on linking Brandenburg to Transeuropean networks, which is also a Community priority.

Respect for sustainable development has been integrated as a general horizontal principle in the CSF and will therefore apply to all operational programmes adopted under the CSF. It will also contain the deadlines before which the German authorities have to submit their proposals for the definition of Natura 2000 sites. Measures with possible negative consequences on the areas protected by Natura 2000 are explicitly excluded from support from the structural funds.

The German authorities commit themselves explicitly to take all the necessary measures to guarantee that Community regulations on the environment and sustainable development are respected. These include in particular the directives on environmental impact assessment.

Every decision of the Commission concerning structural funds assistance is taken on the basis of Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 of 21 June 1999 laying down general provisions on the structural funds(1). This regulation also contains provisions on the rules and procedures for ensuring compliance with the regulation itself.

(1) OJ L 161, 26.6.1999.