EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 88/350

(2004/C 88 E/0357)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1317/03

by Nelly Maes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(7 April 2003)

Subject: Implementation of Community programmes in Slovakia

Will the Commission please provide a detailed account of Slovakia's use of ISPA, PHARE and Sapard funding for 2000, 2001 and 2002 (tables, implementation and distribution by region)?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(12 June 2003)

With regard to PHARE, almost EUR 240 million were committed to the Slovak Republic in the frame of Phare assistance in the period 2000-2002. The overall allocations listed in the table below include inter alia funding for the National Programme, Cross-Border Co-operation (CBC) Programmes, participation in Community programmes and agencies and assistance in the field of nuclear safety (Decommissioning of the Bohunice NPP).

Year Commitments Contracted % 2000 (1) 78 818 979 76 800 648 97,44 2001 (2) 80 500 000 14 307 444 17,77 2002 (3) 79 100 000 7 497 800 9,48

Phare assistance has aimed at supporting Slovakia's efforts to fulfil the commitments of legislative approximation and the implementation of the ‘acquis’ in accordance with the commitments made in the context of the negotiation process. The Action Plan for the reinforcement of the administrative and judicial capacity, elaborated jointly with the Slovak authorities, identified the steps to be undertaken in order for the Slovak Republic to achieve an adequate level of administrative and judicial capacity by the time of accession. The activities were selected to match the priorities listed in the Accession Partnership and in line with the Slovak National Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis (NPAA).

As regards the geographical distribution of Phare assistance, in 2000 and 2001, the projects financed in the frame of Economic and Social Cohesion (National Programmes) were located in the regions identified by the Slovak Government as the least developed areas, i.e. Košice, Prešov and Banská Bystrica. EUR 6,3 million and EUR 18,4 million were allocated in 2000 and 2001 respectively for Economic and Social Cohesion activities.

The Cross-Border Co-operation Programmes provide funding to a certain number of infrastructure projects (notably in the environment, transport and economic development fields) to the following eligible regions:

— CBC Slovakia/Hungary: Bratislava, Trnava, Nitra, Banská Bystrica and Košice;

— CBC Slovakia/Poland: Zilina and Prešov;

— CBC Slovakia/Austria: Bratislava and Trnava.

The relevant CBC allocations for the period in reference are as follows:

2000 2001 2002 Total Slovak/Hungarian border 2 2 2 6 Slovak/Polish border 4 4 4 12 Slovak/Austrian border 6 6 6 18 Overall total 12 12 12 36

Detailed information on PHARE implementation can be found in the PHARE annual reports for 2000 and 2001 (http://europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/pas/phare/publist.htm). The PHARE annual report for 2002 will be adopted later this year.

For ISPA, a total of EUR 278 million have been allocated to Slovakia in 2000, 2001 and 2002 of which EUR 106 million in the environment sector and EUR 172 million in the transport sector respectively. Together with national co-financing this corresponds to a total project value of EUR 511 million.

During the first three years of ISPA implementation 11 environment projects were financed focusing mainly on supporting Slovakia's compliance with the drinking and waste water Directives and they are equally spread over the country.

Projects in the transport sector consist of three rail projects, aiming at upgrading the international rail corridor between Bratislava and Zilina, as well as one motorway project located in Bratislava. Detailed information on ISPA implementation can be found in the ISPA annual reports for 2000 and 2001 (http://europa.eu.int/comm/regional_policy/funds/ispa/docum_en.htm). The ISPA annual report for 2002 will be adopted later this year.

Additional information can also be found on the ISPA web site (http://europa.eu.int/comm/regional_policy/ funds/ispa/ispa_en.htm).

In respect of the Special Accession Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (Sapard), a total of EUR 96 million have been allocated to the Slovak Republic for the years 2000-2004. The programme is based on three priorities: (i) the improvement of the agricultural production sector including food processing industry (ii) sustainable rural development; and (iii) human resources development.

As the management and implementation of the programme is fully decentralised to the candidate countries, the Slovak authorities first had to have their implementing agency (the so-called Sapard agency) accredited in order for the programme to operate.

This accreditation process (4) was concluded on 15 April 2002 with the Commission Decision to confer the management of Sapard aid to the Slovak authorities and Slovakia could begin the implementation of its Sapard programme as of that date.

Since the first appeal concerning the submission of applications for financial aid within the Sapard programme, the Agency had approved 75 projects by the middle of March 2003.

These approvals can be broken down by region as follows:

Region Submitted Projects Approved Projects B. Bystrica 11 6 Kosice 15 3 Nitra 35 16 Presov 12 9 Trencin 13 10 Trnava 35 10 Zilina 29 21 Total 150 75

Detailed information on Sapard implementation can be found in the Sapard annual reports for 2000 (http://europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/publi/reports/sapard2000/index_en.htm) and 2001 (http://europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/publi/reports/sapard2001/index_en.htm). The Sapard annual report for 2002 will be adopted later this year.

Additional information can also be found on the AGRI web site (http://europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/ external/enlarge/countries/slovakia/index_en.htm).

Further information on the implementation of the 3 pre-accession instruments in 2002 are contained in the General Assistance Document 2003 presented to the Phare Management Committee on 9 April 2003, which will become available shortly on the Enlargement website (http//europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/docs/index.htm).

(1) The contracting period expired on 31 December 2002.

(2) The contracting period will expire on 30 November 2003.

(3) The contracting period will expire on 30 November 2004.

(4) To this end Slovakia has concluded its national accreditation work, which was accepted in the form of an Act of Accreditation issued by the competent Slovak authority on 19 December 2001. The Slovak authorities notified the Commission of this accreditation process and a complete package of information was sent to the Commission on 7 January 2002. The Commission examined the basis for the national accreditation, obtaining supplementary information and clarification as part of a detailed audit.